Blackbelt Beauty Queen
by TwoDaysTooLate
Summary: High school is hard. Beauty pageants are too. You'll never guess who is entering one
1. You want me to do what?

**Picture it, Retroville circa six years after our beloved show stopped being aired. Are you picturing it? Good. Now read the story and figure the rest out for yourself.**

**I do not own Jimmy Neutron (oh but if I did...)**

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><p>"You must be out of your mind," Cindy said.<p>

Libby's face fell. "Please! I don't know who else to ask. It won't be that bad, I promise."

"A beauty pageant? You would really ask _**me**_ to enter a stupid beauty pageant? You've known me how long?" Cindy blew her bangs out of her eyes. They were the only part of her light blond hair not secured back with her green headband.

"But it's the 'Miss Retroville High' pageant!" Cindy raised one eyebrow incredulously. "They need at least five girls to represent each grade and since Nissa's going to be out of town the night of the show she had to drop out." Cindy sighed unhappily. She knew how this was going to end. Over the years she had learned that when Liberty Danielle Folfax wanted something, she usually got it. "Why can't you just do it? You don't exactly require an excuse to slip on a pair of heels and strut across a stage."

"I would, but as junior class president I'm on the planning committee." Libby said professionally. "It would be a conflict of interest."

"They wouldn't let you, would they?"

"Shut up." She said basely. "Will you do it? Pleeeeeeeeeease?"

"Libs…I'm just really not the pageant type. You seriously cannot think this is a good idea, you know me."

"Yes," Libby took a more serious tone, "I know you are smart and pretty and very eloquent. A perfect choice for the next 'Miss Junior Retroville High.'"

"Libby…"

"Don't even try to deny it. You'd have guys fallin' out of trees for you if you weren't so abrasive or even if you stopped dressing like a librarian."

Cindy looked down at her light pink polo shirt, knee-length khaki skirt, and ballet flats. "There's nothing wrong with maintaining an air of professionalism."

"Mmm hmm, all you're missing is the blazer." She gave her friend a wry smile. "Or a lab coat."

Cindy felt her face reddening. "It is not wise to aggravate the person from whom you are asking a favor."

Libby sighed. "Geez, you are not fun. At least just _think_ about it. Please. For me."

Cindy rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'll give it some thought. But right now I've got to get to A.P. U.S. History." She closed her locker door and walked up the hallway.

_I'm not going to cave, _she thought. _She won't talk me into it. Not this time. I will stand firm._

_Crap. No I'm not. We both know by the end of the day I'm going to be entered in a stupid beauty pageant._

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><p><strong>So exciting, I know, but alas every story needs an introduction. Rate and respond por favor.<strong>_  
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	2. We're OK

Alright, now we're getting somewhere. I Do not own Jimmy Neutron (as made obvious by the lack of Betty Quinlin deaths...I mean... season 4. Not death. That would be inappropriate. Heh heh)

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><p>Jimmy sat in his usual second row seat, hoping Mrs. Isbell wouldn't walk in the room and see him working on the blueprints for his improved shrink ray. History wasn't exactly his favorite subject, but this was an advanced placement class so "attention must be paid." He heard fabric rustle, and knew someone must have come to his side of room (there were only thirteen people in the class so the seating arrangement was very spread out). A moment later his nose was assailed by a heavenly combination of jasmine and honeysuckle . He unzipped his red jacket with the yellow atom insignia on the back (one of his better birthday presents from Libby. A boy could only use so many portable speakers ). It suddenly seemed <strong>much<strong> warmer in here.

_Keep your eyes on the paper. We go through this every day. _ Curse girls and their flowery…girl..smelling stuff. Curse the abominations that are hormones that make him susceptible to such scents. Especially curse the blond one who just took her seat in front of him. The blond whose school career revolved around vain attempts to best him academically (Well, some resulted in success. Ok, a lot resulted in success. She proved especially good with history and English, not that he would ever tell her).

_It's not fair to just think of her as a rival. Life would be much easier if all she did was provide competition. _ Over the years she had stopped being the bane of his existence and, ok they had had a few romantic trysts (if you could even call them that. It just happened a few times. It's all in the past. Really), and they had become better friends. But what good were friends if you couldn't harmlessly pick on each other or engage in occasional bickering. Besides, who else could he talk to about quantum mechanics or sting theory, Carl and Sheen? Carl's idea of string theory was "if it gets too long, it will get tangled up or irritate my sinuses." No, there was only one person he wanted … I mean…**could** have intellectual discussions with, and that was Cindy. Cindy who certainly smelled better that Sheen managed to on a daily basis. Cindy who was possibly the most beauti-… interesting person he knew. That's why it occasionally posed a problem that she sat in front of him.

He instantly knew something was amiss when she just sat there. The usual routine was: after she placed her binder and mechanical pencil on her desk, she sat back in the chair, placed her hands on the back of her neck, and flicked her wrists so that her hair fanned out and landed on the desk behind her. Considering that, when straitened, her blond layers were just a few inches shy of the bottom of her rib cage, his desk was pretty much covered with the silken tresses…er… obnoxious stuff. The absence of this daily annoyance bothered him. Instead of the usual jabbing "_Oh is my hair on your desk? That sounds like a personal problem_," she just sat there, looking at the front of the room.

"Ready to be smoked on the test Thursday Vortex?"

No response. _She must really be lost in thought._ He dug deeper.

"Tell you what, if you admit my mental superiority now, I'll spot you a few points."

That did it. She whipped around. "Dream on Neutron. Besides, you'll need all the points you can get. I know the Gilded Age like the back of my hand."

He smirked, ready with a response when their teacher walked in. "Sit down and shut it. I'm putting the notes on the overhead projector, so copy them. Or don't. I don't care; it's your grade." Mrs. Isbell was about two years away from retirement, and therefore pretty much useless as a teacher. Fortunately his eidetic memory made the class doable, but other students weren't so lucky. _Not Cindy though._ He sighed. No, despite her lack of advantages she somehow managed to remain his academic rival. She could memorize dates and people like he could molecular compounds. She seemed to be off her game today though. He saw her occasionally stare off into space, only to catch herself and resume note taking. He furrowed his brow and wondered what was up. _Why do you care? Curiosity. Yeah, riiiight. What? We're friends; friends show concern. Do friends day dream about grabbing friends be their slender waist and pulling them close to- Shut up._ _Think formulas. The derivative of tan(x) is sec__2__(x). The derivative of cos(x) is…_

The class drug on and eventually the bell rang for lunch. The class packed up their things and proceeded out the door. Thanks to advanced hypercube technology, Jimmy had no need for a locker (everything fit in his backpack) so he followed Cindy to hers.

"What's the deal Cin, you seem to be zoning out a lot today."

It took a minute for her to respond. "Huh? Oh, I'm just…pondering something." She started putting books in her locker. "Earlier Libby and I were talking and she asked me to do something weird," She paused and looked up, giving him an undecipherable look. "She wants me to be in the stupid school pageant because Nissa quit."

_That's what was wrong? That's not so weird. _Libby was on a bunch of committees so the pageant was probably one. If she couldn't be in it, Cindy was the obvious choice. _I could see her on stage, accepting some of the awards: highest GPA, best interview, prettiest eyes…WAIT WHAT? _

She looked at him curiously. "What, no scoff of disbelief? No burst of laughter? You must be slipping Neutron, this is some prime mocking material."

"I don't think that's so strange. I mean you're…" he stopped himself before something slipped. Her face was scrunched with growing disbelief, "..Libby's best friend. Yeah, you're her friend so it's natural she would ask you."

Cindy seemed by buy it. She shut her locker door. "I just can't see myself doing that: wearing eight pounds of make-up and talking like a cheesy bimbo." She widened her eyes and bobbed her head from side to side with an enormous fake grin on her face. "Hello, my name is Cindy. I believe we should help others. World peace and cupcakes for all."

Jimmy chuckled. "You seem to have a knack for that. 'My favorite book is _Green Eggs and…_ drat, I always forget the rest.'"

She covered her face with her hand to try to stop the laughter. "That's perfect. 'If I could go anywhere in the world, I would go to Oklahoma. Its abbreviation is OK, so you know it must be okay."

Jimmy burst out laughing. "And you don't want to do that onstage?" They entered the lunchroom.

"Libby would kill me if did." At that moment she spotted her friend at a table near the middle of the room. "I'm gonna go get a seat." And with that she was gone. He took his place in the lunch line. He really needed to start bringing his own food. _Not because she does, that would be ridiculous. Just because the line could be long and it would be easier to go straight to the group's table._ He watched as Cindy sat down, tucking a stay piece of hair behind her ear. Libby immediately started talking, most likely about the pageant thing. He personally didn't see what all the hype was about, but tickets to that thing sold out every year. _So a bunch of silly girls got dressed up and talked about what they could do to better the community. So what? _Ofcourse, the idea of Cindy's porcelain visage swathed in silk was somewhat appealing._ A waterfall of blond curls cascading down her back… NO, E=mc__2__, PV=nRT. Gah,_ _what is wrong with me today?_

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><p><em>Some Jimmy POV. Rate and respond s'il vous plaît.<em>


	3. School Daze

**Onward we go. Props if you recognize the book.**

**I do not own Jimmy Neutron. (Cindy does, we all know it)**

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><p>"Well?"<p>

"Well what?" Cindy asked in an overly innocent tone. As she expected Libby was overly eager to find out if she was doing the stupid pageant.

"What was going on with you and Neutron over there?" She replied in a sly voice.

_Oh crap._ She was not prepared for that. "We were just talking…about the history test."

"Yeah, that's why you two couldn't go three seconds without laughing. I understand reconstruction is hilarious but…"

"The Gilded Age. We're way past reconstruction."

"Of course super A.P. history is. We mere mortals have to move at a slower pace though."

The main downfall of high school was that she and Libby didn't have so many classes together. Cindy focused her academics towards taking as many honors and advanced placement classes as possible, whereas Libby was alright with a normal workload. _That's probably why she has time for so many committees…and still manages to look like a rock star._ Libby was truly fabulous. She had done away with the braids when they started ninth grade, and her hair was now straight and sleek, ending just above her shoulders. Today she had the ends flipped out away from her neck. That combined with her magenta and royal blue paisley long-sleeved mini dress, knee high black boots, and shimmery make-up just added to her goddess complex. It was a shame she couldn't enter the pageant because she would most likely wipe the floor with the competition. _The pageant, crap!_ She still hadn't given an answer. Maybe Libby forgot.

"Oh, so have you made up your mind?"

No such luck. Cindy sighed. "Alright, yes. For you I will do it."

Libby squealed and jumped up to hug her friend, even though she was sitting right next to her. "Girl, I knew you'd come through. With my help you'll totally win."

"And why would I wanna do that?"

"Duh, if you're going to enter you have to try to win."

"Whoa now, that was **not** a stipulation in the original deal. Isn't it enough that I'm doing it? Speaking of which, who else is entering?"

"Well, Brittany of course, Emily, Tanya, and.. um…" she mumbled an incoherent name.

"What was that last one?"

"Be-he-hghm. *cough*"

"WHAT?" Then it sunk in. "Oh, _her._" She looked across the lunchroom to where the infamous Betty Quinlin sat. **Of Course **_**she**_ would enter such a thing. Like she needed an excuse to parade around the school like a princess. It didn't matter that Jimmy stopped vying for her affection years ago ( not that Cindy cared), she still couldn't stand the way that anything with a Y-chromosome drooled over her like she was something special. So she had shiny dark hair and a sickeningly sweet voice, she couldn't solve her way out of a cardboard box let alone find the concavity if a cosine function. The she-devil was currently draped over Nick Dean's arm, probably listening to him retell a _fascinating_ story of how he broke his leg again, yet she looked as if he was reciting _Beowulf _in Old English. _Pshtt, bimbo._

"Libby, ordinarily I wouldn't want do anything that would force me to be in her presence for more than a second," Libby's face fell, "But I suppose I could suck it up for a few days." Her friend beamed.

"Thank you Cin. I really appreciate it. Beside, you can totally wipe the floor with her."

"Unlikely, but thanks anyway."

"Now as I was saying earlier, WHAT WAS THAT WITH JIMMY? And don't say 'nothing', I know flirting when I see it." Libby stared at her expectantly.

"Were just joking around about something. Not everything said to a boy has to be considered flirting you know."

"With you two? Yes, yes it is." She leaned in. "Why don't you guys just admit that something is going on already?"

"Libby!"

"What? It's pretty obvious. Look, he's wearing that weird Hessen-whatever shirt you gave him last year. I never did understand that, BT dubs."

Cindy glanced at the lunch line to where Jimmy was standing. _Ok, so he's wearing the shirt. So what?_ In one of her more creative moments last year, she had found a place that customized clothing. What was a better gift than a shirt that read: "Heisenberg may have worn this (but we can't be certain)"?

"That's a joke about the Heisenberg uncertainty principle that states at one moment you can know the position or the momentum of a particle but not…" Libby just gaped. "Right, you don't care. But what's the big deal? He wears that jacket you made all the time."

"That's because I was so sick of seeing his stupid "trademark shirt" that I practically threatened bodily harm if I ever saw it again. I swear, it was like he wore it every day! It was very obnoxious."

Suddenly Sheen came up behind her. "Talking about me, my sweet?" He sat down next to his girlfriend and put his arm around her.

Cindy rolled her eyes. "No, but she came pretty close. For you it would have to be 'extremely obnoxious'".

Sheen ignored her comment and proceeded to tell some stupid story about his exploits from the previous evening. Carl had shown up, sat down across him, and proceeded to pull some gelatinous mass out of his lunch box.

How Libby could stand to be in his prescence, let alone date him for four years, was beyond her. Cindy rolled her eyes again and glanced back over to the lunch line and noticed Jimmy was out of site. They were just friends, why was that so hard for Libby to comprehend? Sure, the stark contrast of the white shirt, red jacket, and dark jeans only helped to accentuate Neutron's classic features…er… big head. Granted, it was slightly more proportional since his growth spurt (she missed the days she could tower over him. Now on tip-toes she barely stood eye to eye with him), but he still had a big head figuratively, and that the main reason why nothing would ever happen between them. _That and the fact that you don't like him._ Of course, **that** was the main reason. She did not like him. Nope, not at all.

She sighed. Maybe if she kept telling herself that, she'd actually believe it.

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><p>After what seemed like forever, Jimmy took his tray and walked over to the table where his friends sat. He saw Sheen and Carl had already joined the girls. Sheen sat with his arm around Libby, his face animated as he spoke. Jimmy noticed Cindy was writing in a notebook, looking up occasionally to shake her head and roll her eyes at Sheen's ramblings. He took the spot across the table from her.<p>

"…And that's why you never put an egg carton in the oven." Sheen finished. "Jimmy, my man, you missed the story. You want me to retell it?"

"NO" Cindy and Carl said in unison.

Libby looked uncomfortable. "Sheen sweetie, why don't you wait to tell him later. It would…ruin the spectacle if you retold it now."

How in the world Sheen had found the one girl who could put up with his nonsense and still remain sane, Jimmy would never know. The two were like Ying and Yang, opposing forces that somehow worked in harmony. Granted, Sheen had mellowed over the years…some. He was still a lanky hyper-active Ultralord fanboy, but being on the basketball team had helped to use up his excess energy. Libby had suggested it in middle school and it worked out perfectly. Once he focused, Sheen was a natural on the court. It helped that his growth spurt left him a good bit above six feet. Jimmy could only be so lucky.

"So Sheen, how was Psychology today?"

"Aw man! I don't know why I let you talk me into taking an A.P. class. There is absolutely NOTHING good about it!" Libby crossed her arms and glared up at the tan boy. "Except that I have it with my Libby-licious who is the bright spot in my bleak day." He chuckled nervously.

"Nice save," Cindy said, not looking up from her writing.

Jimmy glanced at the page in her lime green binder. "What are you writing?"

"I'm adding more to my analysis of last night's reading for English. I re-read it after the Pre-Cal quiz and noticed some things I missed last night. _Heart of Darkness_ is just so full of symbolism."

He groaned. "I found those chapters completely unrealistic. If you put a bunch of starving cannibals on a boat, people are going to get eaten."

She glared up at him. " Conrad was trying to illustrate the contrast of inner restraint of the so-called 'savages' versus the Europeans. It doesn't matter what's realistic, he was making a point!" The argument about various literary themes continued on through lunch. Their friends had long since learned to ignore them when they got like this and go about their business.

The bell signaling fifth period rung, and the small group dispersed. Libby, Sheen and Carl headed off to history and Jimmy made his way to English class. With Cindy.

Of the three classes they had together this year (thank you AP gods) he probably liked this one the least. All the hidden meanings and flowery language…if the author wanted a person to know something, he should just say it! But _of course_ little Miss One-up was perfectly at home finding literary techniques used in prose or relating themes to devices. It didn't help that she sat next to him. _Why did that always seem to happen?_ Seats were not assigned. He could move if he really felt like it, but for unexplained reasons he didn't…Ok, he knew why.

They sat down and a moment later the bell rang. Mr. Hayward hurried in the class and shut the door.

"Good afternoon young people. Please get out your books and we will begin the discussion,". The tall lanky man picked up a stack of papers from his desk and looked up. "Now I know I say this every day, but I would once again like to emphasize this **very** important point to all of you: do not correct my grammar whilst I am teaching a lesson." He stared pointedly at Jimmy.

Well, what do you expect? It's the territory that comes with being a genius after all.

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><p><strong>More soon (hopefully). Rate and review bitte sehr!<strong>


	4. Schrödinger's Lunchbox

**Thanks to everyone who wrote such kind reviews. Now, let's see what our favorite blond is up to**

**I do not own Jimmy Neutron. Acquisition of it is very difficult when John A. Davis won't respond to his emails**

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><p>A loud thud awoke Cindy from her deep REM cycle. She looked over to see Humphrey had jumped down from her bed only to curl up on his dog pillow on the floor.<p>

"Really? That was really necessary at…" she looked at the clock, "6:18 in the morning?" Great, she only had about twelve minutes until her alarm went off. She hated mornings when this happened. There was no way she was getting back to sleep now, and even if she did the alarm would soon sound. She groaned. Why did the stupid dog have to do that on mornings when she had gotten practically no sleep the night before? She had forgotten all about the English assignment until she got home from karate and had to stay up late to finish that and her AP Chemistry homework.

She pushed back the covers and slowly stood up. If she couldn't sleep she might as well take her time getting ready. She grabbed her clothes from on top of the dresser and headed for the bathroom connected to her room.

She paused at the big wall calendar her mother had decided was 'the perfect way to stay ahead.' It was really just another way for Sasha Vortex to micromanage everything, but whatever. Every week had basically the same thing written on it. Monday: Aikido 4:30-5:30, Karate 6-8; Tuesday: 5 to 6 yr old karate class (her part-time job was teaching at the dojo) 4-4:45, Judo 6-7; Wednesday: Karate 5-6, Ninjutsu 7-9; Thursday: Piano 3:45-4:15, 7 to 8 yr old Karate class 4- 4:45, Tao Kwan Do 6:30-7; Friday Debate team 3:30-4:30. Some days had more written on them where she had a test or paper due, or if she had extra practice. It was a wonder she ever got anything done. And come spring she'd have to add soccer practice to the mix.

_There are just not enough hours in the day. Of course, if there were more I'd just have an even fuller schedule. Mother would make sure of it._

She walked into the bathroom and started washing her face. _I suppose I'll have to start adding pageant meetings and the stupid event down. Great, more to the pile. I love Libby, but if anything interferes with Karate it's getting skipped. Despite what mom thinks, I can't do everything. OH CRAP! MOM! _She was going to have to tell her mom about Libby's scheme. Knowing her mother, this could go one of two ways: either she would scoff and tell Cindy not to waste her time with trivial matters that would not improve her academic résumé, or she would delight in an opportunity for her daughter to win yet another trophy for her shelf. _First competition in forever that Neutron can't enter. You should have a pretty good shot then, eh?_ Cindy chuckled as she started brushing her teeth. As amusing as finally finding something she could do that he couldn't was, she still didn't like the idea of being judged for something that was out of her control. Academic bees and debates she could prepare for, this she wasn't so sure. _I suppose I could just practice answering sample questions like we do for debate. Libby can take care of the clothing aspect, and it might actually be fun._ She pulled on her jeans and white tank top. _Well maybe not fun. I have a feeling reaction prediction equations are more fun than stupid pageants._ Ah chemistry. Why the heck did she take that class? One year had been more than enough, but stupid Neutron had to run his stupid mouth about how excited he was to have another stupid year of it and how he was sure _less gifted students_ would be happy to be free of it. The next thing she knew she was in the guidance office switching her Sociology class for advanced placement chem.. She'd show him who was a less gifted student. _Yeah, and that worked so well._ Admittedly…Neutron has been less obnoxious this year. He'd occasionally offered assistance when she seemed to be struggling with intermolecular forces. And managed not to be so smug about it. Granted they still competed over grades, but if she genuinely struggled with something, he wouldn't go out of his way to make her feel bad about it. Over the years he had somehow become slightly more human. _He didn't laugh when you said you might enter the pageant. Maybe he'd even come watch. Or bring you flowers…_

**BRAAAH! BRAAAH! BRAAAH!**

She was ripped from her ridiculous thoughts by the blaring of her alarm clock. She made her way back to the bedroom to turn it off. After making the loud noise stop, she walked over to the full-length mirror, buttoning up her dark green sweater in the process. She looked long and hard at herself, from pony tail all the way down to her sneakers. Libby's words from the previous day still rung in her ears. She did _not_ dress like a librarian. It was the middle of February, she had the right to dress for warmth. _Yeah, because these freezing Retroville lows of fifty degrees are really something._ She frowned. There is nothing wrong with dressing conservatively. Maybe she'd just add a little more makeup though.

As she penciled light brown along her lash line, her phone buzzed.

"What's up Lib?" she answered.

"Well I talked to the committee yesterday afternoon and you're officially on the roster. There is a meeting for the contestants at lunch so come to Ms. Kirkwood's room after fourth period. We'll be discussing the pageant layout. What did your mom say when you told her."

Cindy paused to sponge on light pink lip gloss. "Umm, it's sorta a work in progress right now."

"You didn't tell her, did you?"

"I forgot. I will at breakfast though. See you in a few." She hung up. Before turning off the light, she spritzed herself with her honeysuckle body spray.

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><p>"What is the structural formula for a ketone molecule?" Mrs. Vortex's heavy accent called out.<p>

"Two Rs single bonded to a carbon, double bonded to oxygen," Cindy replied flatly. This is how breakfast worked in the Vortex household: granola with yogurt, skim milk, and chemistry flashcards.

"Good. How about carboxylic acid?"

"Mother, may I ask you something?"

"That depends, do you know the formula?"

She sighed. What was wrong with this family? "R single bonded to COOH."

"Good enough, now what is it?"

She decided to approach the topic gently. "Have you ever entered into a verbal contract with someone?"

"Cynthia, I do not like where this is going."

"I mean…ok, Libby asked me to do her a favor and I agreed. I just wanted to make sure it was ok with you."

"That really depends on the favor."

"She's on the high school pageant committee and wants me to be in it so they have enough junior girls." She braced herself for the response.

"Is Liberty entering?"

"No, she's not allowed due to her involvement with its organization."

Mrs. Vortex pondered for a minute. "I suppose it is alright, assuming you don't neglect your studies. I have a feeling your competitive nature will be beneficial for this little contest. I suppose you'll need a new dress?"

This was weird. She wasn't used to her mother immediately accepting anything. "I suppose."

"Well we will cross that bridge later. Now, what is the formula of an aldehyde?"

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><p>Jimmy sat down at the lunchroom table and was alarmed to see the absence of their female cohorts. He had just seen Cindy not five minutes ago in history. When the bell rang she rushed out before he could even get up. Something was obviously going on.<p>

"Where are the girls?"

Sheen sat staring at his Ultralord lunch box (some habits die hard). "Libby said something in psych about a meeting….don't remember what, but that is her fault for deciding to wear those silver earrings that have a little hoop inside the big hoop," his friends looked at him with the usual perplexed stare. "What?You know shiny things distract me." He pushed the box towards Carl. "Open this, Llama boy."

Carl almost spit out his juice. "Why? You can't do it? Is something going to jump out at me? Dang it Sheen, you know I hate it when things jump out at me!"

"Yeah, what's up with the box Sheen?" Jimmy sat down.

"Well, in an attempt to 'teach us to be more independent'" he made air quotes, "my dad is having us do more chores and my sister made my lunch today. She _apparently_ has a surprise for me, so inside is either a delicious turkey sandwich or a dead frog. Or maybe both. Either way, I'm not opening it."

Jimmy Chuckled. "Sounds like a real 'Schrödinger's cat' problem to me."

The other two boys stared blankly.

"Oh come one, you know! The thought experiment from 1935: A cat, along with a flask containing a poison and a radioactive source, is placed in a sealed box. If an internal Geiger counter detects radiation, the flask is shattered, releasing the poison that kills the cat. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics implies that after a while, the cat is simultaneously alive and dead. Yet, to look in the box, one sees that the cat is _either_ alive or dead, not both alive and dead…"

The boys continued to look dumbfounded."Never mind."

He sighed. _Cindy would have gotten it._

Ah yes Cindy, where is she? _Hmm, if Libby is at a meeting then she's probably not far behind .But for what? Oh right, the pageant thing._ Pageant. The simple word seemed to be taking over his vocabulary lately. He hoped that there wouldn't be too many of these meetings at lunchtime. NOT because he missed Cindy or anything. He spent practically three hours with her every day, why would he miss her? No, it was just that, well, the quality of conversation seemed to lessen when she wasn't around. He looked at his friends.

Sheen was finally opening the box while Carl hid behind his Spanish book.

"Yeah, it's a frog." Sheen looked into the open lunch box. "Well played Alicia, well played. Wait…it's …HOLY ULTRALORD, IT'S ALIVE!" The frog jumped out on his head and Sheen proceeded to run away from the table shrieking.

_I really hope they're back tomorrow__._

Jimmy just shook his head as the on-duty teacher tried to calm Sheen down.

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><p>At the start of lunch, the two girls walked into the Student Council adviserMath teacher's room. Cindy saw that a fair amount of girls were already convening. She recognized a few faces in the sea of underclassman. Brittney and Emily waved at her before returning to their conversation.

"Ok, you take a seat. I've got to talk to the other committee members." Libby walked towards the corner near Ms. Kirkwood's desk where the other female heads of the classes were. Cindy recognized the freshman class president, the sophomore VP, and the senior class prez along with a few other student council members.

She scanned the room for an empty seat and found one next to a red-headed senior who she recognized from soccer last year. She made her way through the rows. " Hey Leah." The girl looked up from her book.

"Hey Cindy! I haven't seen you for a while. Tryouts are in March. You're coming I hope; we need a powerful defensive midfielder since Maria graduated."

"Wouldn't miss it. Congrats on making co-captain" "Thanks," the redhead beamed, then looked at Cindy curiously.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you don't really strike me as the pageant type." Cindy chuckled.

"I'm not, but my best friend is on the committee and pretty much strong-armed me into doing it."

"Understandable. I'm not all that into this kinda stuff, but there are good scholarship opportunities for the winners."

_Really? I didn't know about that._

"Attention ladies," Ms. Kirkwood said, walking to the front of the room. Everyone turned to face her. "Thank you for coming today. If you'd please direct your attention to Miss Folfax who will explain the proceedings."

Libby walked to where the teacher stood. "Thank you ma'am. Now, there are three main parts to the pageant: sportswear, eveningwear, and the interview. Sportswear is everyday but kinda dressy clothing. You wear that when you first walk across the stage and introduce yourself. Eveningwear consists of a formal dress. It must come down below your knees and the back of the dress can be no lower than two inches above your natural waist. At the next meeting we will have a sheet to distribute explaining all the guidelines about outfit appropriateness. Now, the interview-"

She was cut short by the sound of the classroom door opening. "Sorry I'm late, my locker just would not open." Cindy didn't even have to turn around to know whose sickeningly sweet voiced was over-enunciating the vowels of her words.

"Ah Miss Quinlin, nice of you to join us." Ms. Kirkwood looked at her over her black-rimmed glasses. "You have missed most of the pageant explanation."

"That's okay. I know the drill." She flounced to an empty seat in the front row.

_Oh my gosh, if she doesn't stop dragging out each syllable… How can anyone stand to listen to that?_

Libby continued to explain the process they would go through as each girl got interviewed by the judges. Cindy tried to listen, but couldn't help but watch as the raven-haired bimbo whispered to the girls next to her the entire time, not paying a lick of attention.

_I don't know why I thought I could do this. I'm going to kill her, if not now then at some point. Rude much, Miss Perfect? Ok, it is decided: I have to win this stupid thing if for no other reason than so _**_Betty Quinlin_**_ won't._

* * *

><p>Yay, conflict! I mean, oooh conflict. More to come later. Rate and review përfytyroni!<p> 


	5. Morning in Retroville

This section is kinda slow, but I have big plans for chapter six so do not despair! Hopefully you'll find it bazinga worthy;)

I do not own Jimmy Neutron. I might be willing to trade ownership of it for a slightly used Honda Civic and a pound cake though (hintity- hint-hint Viacom)

* * *

><p>Jimmy glanced nervously behind him as he flipped to the newest page of notes in his binder. The tardy bell would be ringing any moment now, and the seat next to him was still empty.<p>

_Calm down, the lunch meeting probably just ran over. But what if she wasn't at the meeting? What if something happened…like she slipped on a sheet of notebook paper in the hallway and cracked her head open…or- What in the name of Mendeleev is wrong with you? Nothing happened, she's just late for class. But Cindy's never late. Who cares? What does caring have to do with-_

A voice from behind him cut his train of thought. "So word on the street is that Sir Spazz-a-lot ran around the lunch room with a frog on his head for fifteen minutes." Cindy sat down and opened her book bag. "Is that just joke or…"

"No," Jimmy sighed. "Unfortunately it's true. I'd recount the incident but it kind of makes me depressed that he is one of the people I spend most of my time with."

Cindy chuckled. "Yeah, Sheen is an unusual character; a hyper, obsessive, cah-razy character."

There was a pause. "But?" Jimmy looked at her expectantly.

Cindy shook her head. "No 'but'. Just statin' the facts."

He rolled his eyes. "You know sometimes it's good to have a little crazy to help you lighten up. Sheen is an…inspirational companion.

Cindy kept her eyes on the paper she was currently using to take notes. "Whatever floats your boat, Neutron."

"Buoyancy floats my boat."

She looked up, giving him a silent 'really?' with one eyebrow raised.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist."

* * *

><p>"Ok, think Goddard. What does the world need most of all right now?"<p>

"Bark."

"Nice try, but I'm pretty sure more lug-nut dog treats would not benefit mankind."

Down in his lab, Jimmy struggled to come up with a new invention. It was hard coming up with something original when you've spent the last seven years of your life creating fantastic gadgets. Ok, maybe the word 'fantastic' was a little too strong for some of them. You _could _say 'catastrophic' …but that really wasn't polite.

"Oh well, I'll brainstorm later. I really should do my physics homework anyway." He climbed into the tube that brought him back up to the ground floor. He walked back to his house, desperately trying to come up with something.

"A pencil that can re-sharpen itself? No, that's pretty much a mechanical pencil. A water bottle that can keep itself cool? Icepack…dang it, why is this so…"

Something caught his eye as he made the turn to his front yard. He noticed movement across the street and saw Cindy putting a blue duffle bag in the passenger seat of her silver car. She had on a jacket, but he could tell from her white pants that she must be on her way to the karate studio.

_Oh yeah, she teaches early on Tuesdays. And other crazy stuff that no normal human could possibly fit in one afternoon. _

He considered calling out to her, but she had her headphones in and was pretty much oblivious to the world. She reached up to pull some pine straw from the top of her car, and he noticed the muscles flex in her powerful legs.

_Look at the crease in her calf. Just one of many well-defined muscles on her perfect body. Gah, none of this! Faraday's constant is 9.65 x 10 raised 4 coulombs._

He watched as she drove away. She wouldn't be back until late tonight. It was a shame, he could really use someone to discuss invention ideas with.

_Suuuuuuuure. That's why you'd like her home. Yes, I'm having a bit of a dry spell and could use someone to brainstorm with. Then why don't you call Carl? Because I have no desire to be told the wonders of llamas for two hours. I need an intelligent mind to bounce ideas off of._

That was all she was to him: an intelligent person with whom he could discuss intellectual pursuits and cosmic happenings. If anyone thought something different, what was their warped misconception.

Jimmy repeated this as he went in the house, and by the time he got to his room, he had almost convinced himself of it.

* * *

><p>Jimmy awoke the next morning to find himself face down at his desk, the crumpled blueprints underneath his cradling arms. Inspiration had hit him at two in the morning, and he had to jot the idea down before he forgot. He must have dozed off. He looked at the incoherent scribbles on the page.<p>

_Oh well, I'll figure this out later._

He drug himself to his closet to find something clean to put on.

A few minutes later he was walking out the door. He glanced across the street to see Libby waiting outside of Cindy's house and sighed.

_She must be giving Cindy a ride today._

When they started the tenth grade, he had planned to suggest they carpool from time to time…for convenience of course (they **were **neighbors after all). But then Libby got a red sports car for her birthday and Jimmy knew enough not to try to compete with her best friend. What girl would rather discuss the possibility of the Kuiper Belt when she could gossip about celebrities or whatever girls gabbed about.

_The one you __**aren't**__ giving a ride, that's who. _

He shook his head. Sometimes his mind was his own worst enemy.

* * *

><p>"So did you hear what happened at lunch yesterday?" Cindy asked from the passenger side of Libby's car.<p>

"Mm-hmm. Sheen told me last night. Apparently there was all sorts of interesting going on."

"The only question is: what hilarious nickname can I get out of this? 'Frog-boy' is too obvious, but 'Captain Caecilian' might not be –"

"I wasn't talking about the durn frog," Libby gave her a sly glance, the immediately looked back to the road. "Apparently there was much concern about your where-abouts shown by a certain boy genius."

"Oh please, you expect me to believe that?"

"Well…ok, he questioned both our where-abouts, but you know I was just tacked on because you weren't there. He cares as much about my absence as you do Sheen's."

"Not true. I live for days when Sir Salientian doesn't come to school. See, it just doesn't flow…"

"Why don't you quit avoiding the main issue here and just accept the fact that he missed you. Because he _liiiiikes_ you."

Cindy groaned, "I'm sorry , I wasn't aware we were still in the fourth grade." She took a serious tone, "Libby, there is absolutely nothing going on between us. We are just friends and nothing, I repeat, NOTHING is going to change that."

They pulled into the school parking lot. "You know, you keep saying that but I have to ask: is it to convince me…or _you_?"

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response."

Partially because she didn't know.

* * *

><p>You know, I keep saying 'rate and review', nut it has occurred to me that there's really no 'rate' option here. Sooo...review amb el seu permís!<p> 


	6. Open mouth, insert foot

Goodness this is a long one. I've tried to set up some rather juicy (insert seductive eyebrow raise) situations here. Thank you to everyone who has written such kind reviews: they really made my day.

I wonder what would happen if someone claimed to own JN? Would the swat team bust through their windows and make them change it? Oh well, better not take any chances: I do not own Jimmy Neutron

* * *

><p>Sorry, had to edit out some technical difficulties<p>

* * *

><p>This morning was particularly dull for Jimmy. AP Psychology and Physics didn't provide the usual satisfaction, and Pre-Calculus was just ridiculous. <em>I don't know why they didn't just let me exempt that class. Asking a genius to memorize points on the unit circle is like asking a middle-schooler to learn addition.<em>

Suddenly the tantalizing waft of female aroma filled his nostrils. _Oh good, Cindy's here. I MEAN… oooooh greeeeeeeat, __**Cindy's**__ here._

She walked past and he couldn't help but notice she looked especially nice to day, in her white cotton dress with a flowy skirt and unbuttoned sweater. She looked almost sweet. _Wait for her to open her mouth; that will change everything. Shut up, no it won't._ He turned to pick his pencil up off the floor, only to return to a curtain of blond waves covering his desk.

"Uh excuse me Miss Vortex, your hair appears to be on my desk."

She turned her face just enough that he could see her eyes from behind her bangs. "Gee, that's too bad, isn't it?"

"Note-taking will probably be somewhat difficult. Oh, is that your plan to get a better grade than me?"

"I don't need a plan for that; it will happen on its own." With one hand she swept the waves to the right side of her neck.

"Alright, let's get this over with." Mrs. Isbell walked in the room. "I'm giving you a worksheet as class work, so do it. Or don't, it really doesn't matter. Most of you will probably never use this information in your daily life after this. I'm collecting it at the end of class for a grade. But seriously, WILL NEVER USE IT!"

"That's what I like to hear from my teacher," Cindy mumbled over her shoulder.

Jimmy chuckled. He finished the sheet in a matter of minutes, then spent the time until the bell wondering why this class always put him in a good mood. He couldn't be sure, but it probably had something to do with the fact that his book now smelled of jasmine.

* * *

><p>Cindy sat down tentatively at the table, staring at her best friend as if bracing herself for the inevitable onslaught of questions. Libby decided to throw her a bone.<p>

"So, have you given much thought about your pageant wardrobe yet?" She adjusted the sleeve on her red button-down blouse.

"Yes," Cindy said with a relieved tone, "I've decided to leave that up to you." Libby grinned. Cindy must be taking this seriously if she was leaving clothing up to her. She didn't mean to brag, but there'd be a much better chance of winning if Libby could pick the outfits.

_Not that she doesn't look cute today. A white eyelet a-line dress, light pink cardigan, and black ballet flats? Who is she trying to impress? Oh wait, I know._

She had been thinking about their conversation during the ride to school all morning and had come up with a plan. If Cindy wouldn't make a move, _she_ would. She had enlisted Sheen's help during psychology, but had a very limited window to fill him in.

She saw him and Carl approaching the table, pulled a dollar out of the pocket of her black jeans, and held it out to Cindy. "Will you please go get me a bottle of water from the vending machine. I would go, but my ankle boots are killing me."

"Cindy took it and got up. "That's what happens when you wear four-inch heels to school."

They boys sat down. "What's up Libby-cakes?"

"Not now Sheen, we don't have much time. I know you all are as tired as I am of these two and their nonsense, so we're finally going to do something about it. Now, here's the plan…"

* * *

><p>Jimmy joined his friends at the lunch table, only to find the not unexpected sight of Sheen laughing and Cindy glaring at him.<p>

"I'm sorry," he said in between chuckles, "But I just can't see _you_ in a beauty contest Vortex."

Jimmy frowned. That was a little harsh.

Cindy crossed her arms. "I see once again you have mistaken me for someone who values your opinion."

"Leave her alone Sheen," Libby interjected, "She will do great. I'll find her a superfine outfit and she'll totally own the interview. We just have to work on answering without sarcasm."

"And not glaring" Carl added.

"And discovering the difference between smiling and smirking," Sheen chuckled.

"And toning down the rage".

"And the eye-rolling".

"And scoffing".

"And that thing where you scrunch up your forehead when you're annoyed," Sheen added.

Cindy raised one eyebrow.

"Yeah, that!"

"Gee, glad to know I have all your support" she went back to her pasta salad.

"I wish Elke was here. She would be in a beauty pageant." Carl sighed with a forlorn look on his face.

"CARL! Your stupid Swedish girlfriend is not coming here! Why she is even still dating you, I will never understand," Sheen exclaimed a little too loudly.

"She's not stupid, she's smarter than you!"

"That's not really saying much," Cindy muttered under her breath.

"And besides," Carl finished, "She is too coming. Her family is making the trip in April to meet with llama breeders so she'll visit me."

Cindy and Libby exchanged glances.

"Say Libby," she said pointedly, "isn't the prom in April?"

"Why yes it is Cindy. How convenient that your girlfriend will be here, Carl." The girls smiled at each other.

"Oh, is it?" He said bashfully.

"ARG, NO PROM TALK," Sheen almost spit out his drink. "I feel like I just finished paying off everything from homecoming".

"Well Sheen, if you got a **job** you wouldn't have to borrow money at high interest costs and spend six months paying it," Jimmy said.

"Or you could just stop charging interest!"

"Hey, BTSO interns only make so much! Especially since their head inventor still has it out for me. Geez, you update a guy's computer ONCE and…"

Libby interrupted. "Yeah Sheen, I'm a cashier at 'Boss: High Fashion, Low Prices."

"Carl works at the Retroland petting zoo," Jimmy added. Carl smiled to himself and said something about 'Living the llama dream', "And Cindy teaches karate. You are the only unemployed person at this table.

He glanced at Cindy and noticed her faced flushed when he mentioned her job. He caught Libby smirking at her. What? It wasn't that hard to figure out; why else would she leave her house ten minutes before the little kid classes started at the studio. And it wasn't weird that he looked up the class times on the dojo's website…it was for research purposes.

"Hey you know what else is in April?" he said changing the subject. "Spring break."

The mood at the table suddenly brightened.

"Ahh, spring break," Sheen put his hands behind his neck and leaned back, only to fall off his chair. He picked himself up. "Seven days of school free bliss."

"A three day cruise in the Caribbean sounds like heaven right now," Libby smiled.

Cindy looked at her friend quizzically. "You didn't tell me you're going on a cruise."

"I'm not, I just said is _sounded _like heaven. I'm not going anywhere."

"Well, if everything works out I will be." Everyone turned to look at the blond. "Sensei Mako is trying to organize a trip to Israel. I'll finally be able to learn Krav Maga." She clapped her hands with excitement.

"Oh yeah," Jimmy scoffed jokingly, "because seven black belts aren't enough. You should really try for eight."

She crossed her arms again. "I'd only be there for a few days; that's not near enough time to master it. Besides, I don't have a black belt in Ninjutsu yet…"

"_Yet._"

"And I haven't practiced my Kendo in a while, so I'm sure that's rusty."

_Yeah sure, rusty. _He knew firsthand just how incredible she was, and seriously doubted if she could be rusty in anything.

Cindy's skills had captivated his attention for the last few years. During one of their (ok, he'd admit it)romantic entanglements in the eighth grade, she had invited him to watch one of her karate tournaments. He agreed, and spent the better part of the day next to a stern-faced (although youthful save for the gray streaks in his otherwise dark hair) Mr. Mako. Jimmy had always thought that Cindy's abilities had been somewhat exaggerated. Yes, she had performed some impressive stunts during some of their adventures, but he'd never paid them much mind. They seemed pretty standard for a karate student, nothing special.

The second she stepped into the ring, he realized how wrong he had been. Every single one of her moves were fluid and mystifying; he had no idea the human body could do such things. She was clearly superior to each of her so-called 'opponents'. Mr. Mako must have noticed the way he gaped at her skills.

"_Miss Cindy is very good, no?"_

"_Good?" _He countered in disbelief, "_Good doesn't even begin to cover this!"_

The older man chuckled. _"She has always shown great potential, even at a young age. She loved karate so much that we arranged for experts from other dojos to come and teach her other martial arts."_

"_So, what would you evaluate her skill set to be?"_

"_She has a black belt."_

"_Then why…"_

"_Does she always wear pink?"_

Jimmy looked confused. "_It never made much sense that with her ability…"_

_Mr. Mako looked thoughtful. "Miss Cindy worked hard to earn her black belt in karate, tae Kwan do, aikido, and kendo. When it became clear that she would soon earn one in judo, the other senseis and I decided that it was unfair to hold her with the same regard as the other students. We decided to create a new belt for our dojo to be awarded to a student who is able to obtain five black belts. Miss Cindy was overjoyed at creating such an achievement. We even let her pick the color."_

"_And she chose pink?"_

"_Well, she __**was**__ ten years old at the time."_

"_Wow." _ He stared in amazement at the remarkable girl as she easily beat her current opponent. He had never realized just how amazing she was: the only person who could rival his academic success, an impossibly good athlete, and who knew what else. Suddenly he wanted to know more about her.

"_Next summer we hope to take her to Brazil. Sensei Seung has a friend there who can teach her jujutsu."_

"_Could she make a career of this?"_

Mako laughed. "_With her skills? Of course. But she values her schooling too much to ever pursue an athletic career."_

They heard cheers and looked over to see that she had been named the winner.

Mr. Mako sighed in relief. "_It is good when she takes home a victory."_

"_What do you mean?"_ Jimmy asked. But the man was already moving forward to congratulate his pupil.

Surprisingly, when he came over, she looked as though she was going to cry.

"I'm sorry Sensei. _I didn't distribute my weight enough during the kame, that's why I lost my balance when he struck my leg, and my forearm block was_-"

"_Cindy," _he said, "_You did marvelous. You did your best and that's all that matters."_

She smiled weakly_. "I won."_

"_I know," _he said. "_She'll be happy_."

Jimmy always wondered what he meant by that. Unfortunately the rest of the day was too much of a whirlwind for him to find out.

He was shaken out of his flashback by the sound of Cindy's voice.

"And besides, how are my martial art achievements any different from your awards?"

"Huh?"

"You never stop striving to collect more. Why should I?"

"Well that's different," he said. "It is conceivable to aspire to multiple academic victories."

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?" she spat out.

_Uh-oh. You'd better tread carefully._

He didn't know where this was going "Well, just realistically speaking, it has been proved almost physically impossible for one to expect to be able to maintain a constant impeccable skill level in a multiple array of fields…"

"Are you saying I can't keep up a black belt in multiple martial arts? Because that's what it sounds like."

_Stop talking stupid. _If he kept this up, something bad was bound to happen. "Well it just seems unrealistic to assume…"

"Oh, I see: if the _great_ Jimmy Neutron wants to win a hundred Nobel Peace Prizes it's totally understandable, but for me to maintain anything above mediocre is _UNREALISTIC. _Pardon me for thinking anyone else could _possibly_ excel at something!" She grabbed her bag and stormed away from the table.

"No, Cindy I didn't mean it like that! I was just hypothesizing…"

Libby glared at him. "Way to go. Another Neutron special: open mouth, insert foot."

He sighed. "I really didn't mean it like that. I know she's capable of maintaining a superb skill set. I just-"

"Can't keep you big stupid mouth shut?"

"Thank you Libby," he narrowed his eyes at her. "Well, I'll apologize in English. She can't stay mad at me all day."

This happened to be the second thing that day that he was completely wrong about. She _could _stay mad at him all day.

And did.

* * *

><p>Gasp! So many cliff hangers! I hope you enjoyed the belt explanation. It always struck me as curious why someone with her skill set always wore pink, so this was my way of rationalizing it. I <em>know <em>her abilities seem almost unrealistic, but consider how many child prodigies there are in the world.

Review alstublieft!


	7. The calm after the storm

**So..tired...but..must...update! Been getting some great reviews (props to my peeps). To answer some questions: yes, I am a human. The creative juices were just really flowing today (hence all the updates. DO NOT get used to having four in one day!) ****I do not own Jimmy Neutron. If I did, I would have to try so hard to get into college. That alone would make a resume great**

* * *

><p>It had been almost twenty-four hours and Cindy still refused to talk to him, make eye contact, or generally acknowledge his presence. One would think a day without her talking to him would be bliss, but it wasn't. It was slow torture. English class was worse than usual (which was saying something).<p>

"Who can explain why Kurtz's last words were "The horror?" Mr. Hayward asked.

"Maybe he was looking at Cindy's report card," he muttered playfully next to him. He glanced sideways with a smile, only to see her staring daggers at her notes. A sneer started to form at the side of her mouth.

"Or maybe he just had a conversation with_ you_." She hissed.

"Did you have an answer Cindy?" Their teacher turned to her. She muttered something about Kurtz's view of society and how his ambiguity piqued Marlow's curiosity and worked secure his own immortality, as the man would ponder this forever.

Jimmy was in total disbelief as to how she always did that.

"Excellent. Now if we look at the contrast of Kurtz's fiancé with…"

He waited until the teacher had turned to face the other side of the room before leaning over and whispering, "Look Cindy, can we talk?"

"I really have nothing to say to you right now."

The bell rang and she slammed her binder shut.

Their teacher called out to the students, "We'll pick up here tomorrow folks. Bring your books!"

Jimmy followed her out the door and down the hallway towards their chemistry class.

"If you'd just let me explain…"

She whirled around to face him.

"There is nothing to explain. You stated an opinion which, according to the first amendment, you have every right to do."

"But…"

"I really do not want to engage in conversation right now. Something that _I_ have every right to do."

He was about to say something, but decided that it was would not be wise to aggravate her further just before entering a room filled with toxic chemicals.

The classroom is set up with four people to a lab station. She managed to avoid him by sitting on the other side of the room at a full table with three senior girls.

He took the notes in silence, wondering what kind of miracle it would take to rectify this situation.

* * *

><p><em> I am not overreacting. I could be doing much worse things than simply not engaging him in conversation.<em>

Cindy occasionally glanced over to where Jimmy sat across the room with Ike (who's reason for taking the class was a complete mystery). She shook her head. What was wrong with him? Did he really have such few social skills that he couldn't figure out when he was insulting someone?

And what was wrong with her? So Neutron insulted her; that wasn't exactly something new.

_That's different. His I.Q. alone proves that he has somewhat of a reason to feel superior at academics. He crossed the line talking about stuff he knows nothing about._ Jimmy Neutron might do better than her at school, but martial arts were the one thing that she knew without a doubt that she was the best at. It was bad enough that her mother undermined her abilities, why did he have to?

_Why do you care what he thinks? His opinion doesn't matter._ But it did. Of course his opinion mattered, one didn't compete with someone if they truly didn't care what that person thinks of them. The cold hard truth was that she wanted him to be impressed with her for once. But that would probably never happen.

She looked at the clock. This day just would not end.

_Oh well, one more class and I can go home and forget all this nonsense. _Of course, Thursdays were her busy days and she'd be lucky to do all her homework and get to bed before eleven, but it would still be better than school.

The bell finally rang and she packed up her stuff. Just as she was about to walk towards the door, Libby ran in.

"Excuse me Dr. Smith," The teacher looked up from his desk and nodded. "Cindy I have bad news: there's an organizational meeting for the pageant committee after school. And Mr. Estevez has to work late so I need to give Sheen a ride from practice to his math tutoring."

She looked at her friend with disbelief."I wish you would have told me this earlier. I would have driven myself to school." She noticed that behind Libby, Jimmy was still slowly packing his bag.

"I'm sorry, I just found out. I'll probably be leaving by 4:30 at the earliest if you can wait."

_This cannot be happening._

"Libby, I have to home for piano by 3:30! If I miss another lesson my mom will kill me, and there's no way I can get home in time by walking."

"If I may interject…" A voice from beside her said. She turned to see Jimmy, looking at her sheepishly. "Perhaps I could be of assistance. I have a fully functioning vehicle."

_Oh surely you jest. _Cindy crossed her arms and glared._ He seems to be laboring under the delusion that I would willingly go __**anywhere **__with him. _Still… it might be her only option.

"Well there you go girl," Libby smiled. "Boy lives right across the street from ya. Sounds perfect. Say 'thank you Neutron.'"

She sighed heavily. "I guess I have no choice. I'll be outside the front entrance no later than 3:17". She turned to Libby. "Now let's go or we'll be late to art history."

* * *

><p>Jimmy tried to hide his smile. He was doing her a favor, surely she had to forgive him.<p>

_Of course this is Cindy we're talking about. Logic has never seemed to surround her._

He found it difficult to pay attention in his French class. Thoughts of potential occurrences filled his mind. Simply because this was a chance to end a conflict, nothing more. The idea of Cindy filling the car with her delightful flowery aroma had nothing to do with his anticipation for the bell to ring.

* * *

><p><em>This would only happen to me<em>. Cindy looked at her watch. _3:16_ and still no sign of-

"True to your word, I see." She turned to see Jimmy standing there, the stupid sheepish exprression still on his face.

Without saying anything, they walked through the parking lot to his assigned space. She was surprised to see that, instead of the hovercraft, his family's blue car sat in the spot.

"No hover car today?" she asked, forgetting that she was supposed to be mad at him.

"Oh, um. It's kind of…experiencing technical difficulty right now."

"You tried to teach Sheen to drive again, didn't you?"

"I just don't understand how someone can be so inept at the simplest instructions!" he unlocked the doors. "I mean, even Carl managed to learn to drive and he practically bursts into tears every time a squirrel runs in front of the vehicle!"

She started to chuckled, then caught herself. She shut the door and buckled her seatbelt.

"You know Cindy," Jimmy started the ignition, "I'm really sorry about what I said yesterday. You definitely-"

"It's fine," she said softly, cutting him off. "Let's just forget about it, ok?"

_So that's it? One slightly amusing anecdote and all is forgiven? What's wrong with you?_

It was slowly becoming a curse: try as she might, she just couldn't stay mad at Jimmy Neutron.

* * *

><p>Libby peeked out from behind a tree near the parking lot. She smiled as she watched Cindy get into Jimmy's car.<p>

"What's the scoop, Libs?" Sheen walked up next to her.

"He said something to her and it looked like she laughed." This plan was working out better than expected already. "Two hours ago she wouldn't even look at him, and now she's laughing? Man, I am good."

"That you are, my ultra sweet." Sheen kissed his girlfriend's forehead and she giggled in response.

"Well, we have about an hour before you have to get to tutoring. What should we do in the meantime?"

"Well…."

"We're not watching 'Ultralord.'"

"AWW MAN!"

* * *

><p>Is Cindy really ok? Will Jimmy do something stupid again? Tune in next time to find out;) I've waited forever to say that. Rate hvis du vil!<p> 


	8. The secret language of women

**I would have had this out sooner, but I do have some semblance of a life. Well...maybe 'life' isn't the correct word. "Obligations" Yes, i had obligations this morning, so here you go.**

**I do not own Jimmy Neutron yadda yadda insert vain attempt at humor.**

* * *

><p>"Well if you think about it, it is suspected to be about 50,000 AU from the sun. It's not like they can hop in a rocket and speed off to something that's entire light-year away." Jimmy said as they sped down the road.<p>

"Yeah but If they sent a probe out when they first suspected the Oort cloud, they'd be one step closer to proving its existence. Not doing anything just opens the theory up to speculation, and you know the problems start when other people are given a chance to criticize something."

He couldn't believe how easy this was. Granted, there had been some awkward silences when they first headed home, but as soon as Cindy spotted his newest copy of _Discovery_ magazine on the floor (_which apparently she also subscribes to. Who would have thought?_) they settled right in discussing the validity of a suspected cloud of comets surrounding their solar system.

"Yeah, they really shouldn't have gone public without more conclusive evidence. The non-science community can be very judgmental. Do you know that there are people who think they faked the moon landing?"

Cindy scoffed, "That is so stupid! Besides, if they were going to fake it, don't you think they'd make it a little more theatrical than a couple of guys bouncing around on white rocks? Like, have Neil Armstrong battle a hostile group of aliens who try to take over the ship or something."

He burst out laughing. Only she would think of something so ridiculous yet brilliant. He decided to swing the conversation.

"So, piano?"

He heard an exasperated sigh next to him. "I would prefer not to discuss the bane of my existence right now. As far as I'm concerned, leave the music up to Libby."

He chuckled. "No love for the ivory keys?"

"Uh, no. The disdain is mutual though, I'm pretty terrible at it. I really don't know why I'm forced to continue it except my mother is delusional : she refuses to accept that I will never be a concert pianist like she was."

Ahh, another piece to the puzzle. He pulled out his best fake patronizing voice, "Aww, you don't want to perform that for your talent portion?"

"There's not a talent portion in high school pageants. Not in ours, at least."

That didn't seem right. "So what, you just walk across a stage and smile?"

"Basically. Each person gets interviewed by the judges, but we do that before the pageant. The audience never sees it." Her tone changed and she started speaking each word with a nervous giggle. "It's really dumb."

He was about to respond, but an orange light caught his attention. He looked down at the dashboard. _Hmm, why is the check engine light on?_

She continued with the same tone, "I don't know how they always sell out every seat, because I can't imagine _why_ anyone would want to watch it."

_The oil was changed last week. Of course, if dad did it who knows what actually happened..._

"I mean, who would drag their friends to see them walk across the stage in a dress… Libby has to be there, and I'm sure she'll convince Sheen to come…"

_I'll need to look under the hood when I get home._

They pulled up in front of her house. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

Cindy let out a soft sigh. "Yeah…bye." She got out and walked up to her house.

_Man, she must really not like piano._

* * *

><p>Cindy turned to walk up her steps, trying not to scream in frustration. <em>Why are you upset? What did you expect; him to be completely enthralled with something as shallow as a stupid pageant? Why do you care anyway?<em>

She didn't know. Why did Neutron always make everything so confusing? Every conversation they had either left her in a state of bliss or wanting to punch a wall. He had to be the most infuriating person ever! Why on earth did she li-

_Oh, I'd like to hit something right now!_

Instead, she pulled out her phone and pressed "2" and "call". After one ring, she heard the automated click.

"_Hi, you've reached Libby. I can't answer the phone right now, but if you leave your name and number I will-"_

"_ULTRALORD!"_

"_SHEEN! I'm trying to record my voicemail!"_

"_Well you should leave that in there. Only the really super awesome people have Ultralord in their voicemail, and you certainly fall in that category, babe."_

"_Aww, Sheen! Oh shoot, *ahem* please leave a message. Beep."_

_You have __**got**__ to be kidding me!_

"You do realize how easy it is to re-record your extended absence greeting, right? It would _literally_ take thirty seconds for you to create a voicemail that isn't completely inane. Look, I know you said you'd call me when you got home, but I really don't feel like talking right now. I just wanted to let you know **not** to get all excited about him giving me a ride home and start assuming things that are obviously not true. I'll see you tomorrow."

She hung up and walked in the door, only to be greeted by her mother's voice. "Ah good, there you are Cynthia. Ms. Harmon has yet to arrive, so take off your shoes and we can study for your history test until she does. I've created a timeline for you to fill out, starting with the important events of 1869 that led up to…"

Cindy groaned quietly. This day just kept getting worse. The only positive thing is now Libby would have to believe that Neutron wasn't interested in her or coming to the pageant. He'd made that pretty clear by ignoring her for five minutes when she mentioned it.

_She'll have to believe me now that there is nothing going on._

Except…it didn't really feel like a good thing. It kinda felt like she had been hit by a truck.

* * *

><p>Jimmy sat down at the lunch table to discover that the girls were not there.<p>

_Hmmm._ He hadn't talked to Cindy since yesterday due to their test last period. After going back to his house the previous evening , he had noticed she looked rather forlorn and wanted to make sure she was ok.

"Hey um," Sheen and Carl looked at him from across the table, "Where are…"

"They had another pageant meeting," Sheen read between the lines (surprisingly). "Libby's really glad Cindy seems to be taking it seriously. Says that she is really enjoying herself."

Jimmy felt confused. "Huh, I didn't get that impression."

"What do you mean?"

"Well when I gave her a ride home yesterday she seemed to think it was dumb, and kept saying that she didn't understand why people would want to see it."

"And what did you say?" Carl asked.

"Well…I don't know. The 'check engine' light came on and I was more preoccupied by…" He noticed the two other boys shaking their heads and trailed off. "What?"

Carl looked at Sheen. "You tell him."

"Jim my man, for one so smart you are **clueless** when it comes to girls."

"Hey!" he objected.

"She said it was dumb to see if you'd disagree, and was most likely hinting that she wanted you to come see it."

What in the name of Alfred Nobel was Sheen talking about. "That makes absolutely no sense. Why wouldn't she just say that? And besides, how would you know?"

Sheen just chuckled, "One does not have a girlfriend without learning that girls make absolutely no sense. You don't have to understand, you just blindly go along with it and hope you get something right. It works for me about sixty percent of the time. Point is, by not saying anything you made it seem like you thought it was unimportant."

"So she's probably upset with you again."

"That's really helpful, Carl, thank you." Jimmy rolled his eyes.

"You're welcome!" The sarcasm was lost on him.

_Cindy is an intelligent girl, why does she need to play mind games like that? It defies reason._ Although, he was slowly figuring out that reason and girls don't mix all that well.

"Well what am I supposed to do?"

"Tell her that you want to go see the darn thing."

This whole situation made no sense. "Why does she even want me to come?"

"Do you really have to ask?"

What? Oh. _Ooooh. Oh. What? No. _They were just friends. That's what was best; they had decided it was for the best.

_Is it though? Is it really? Do you really want to be just friends with the smartest, most amazing girl in Retroville and possibly the planet? _It was dangerous to think like that, so Jimmy pushed the question to the back of his mind.

"Ok, I'll try to fix this. If that's at all possible"

* * *

><p>"So tell me again what happened <em>in detail<em> this time," Libby called to Cindy in the dressing room. Friday was the only day the girl had any free time, and while Libby _technically_ had to work that afternoon, there was no reason her friend couldn't look for a pageant outfit at "Boss".

"It's exactly like I said before, he came into English and asked how much pageant tickets were. I was really confused after what happened yesterday and thought he was trying to make a joke, but he really wanted to know. He even asked if it was okay for him to come."

"And what did you say?"

"I said it was whatever. It's none of my business what he wants to do."

Libby shook her head. Would Cindy ever learn? "Well see, he wasn't ignoring you then. He was just being his usual clueless self. Do you have the dress on yet?"

"Yes," the changing room door opened and the blond stepped out. "There is no way my mother would let me leave the house in this, let alone walk across a stage in front of the entire school."

Libby personally didn't see the problem. The bright purple leopard-print mini dress looked great.

"It's not the _entire_ school… besides, parents and stuff will be there too."

"That, my dear, is called justification. I don't want to look like-"

"Annnnd Jimmy's coming now; all the more reason for you so show some leg." She cast her friend a sly glance.

Cindy's face colored. She returned to the dressing room and slammed the door. "**That** is completely ridiculous. I did not come here to be harassed." She came out a minute later in a pair of gray slacks and a violet blouse. "What about this?"

"Oh it's fine," Libby walked over to the small room, "if you're going to court."

An older woman in a navy vest glanced at pair and walked over. "Liberty, your shift isn't over yet."

Libby panicked. "Uhhh…"

Cindy quickly handed her the purple dress. "She was just getting me a smaller size."

The woman's expression softened. "Alright, as long as you're helping a customer." She walked off.

"Thanks girl. Now put something else on." She put the dress on its hanger then put it on a random rack. "Honestly, the stuff they expect me to do around here."

"Yeah," Cindy laughed from the changing room. "How Draconian of them to expect you to _work _at your job."

"I know! It's simply ridiculous. Now let's see."

The door opened. Libby smiled.

_Perfect._ "Girl, we got a winner."

* * *

><p><strong>Oh Jimmy, so much lady trouble. Will he ever learn? Probably not.<strong>

**Review kui tohib paluda! (Have I done Estonian yet? Eh, I'm too lazy to check)**


	9. A Call to Arms

**Sorry for the hold-up: I must have rewritten this about five times, and I'm still not completely satisfied. Alas, I must keep the populace happy and update. It's kinda short this time, but it will lead to much excitement later on ^_^**

**I do not own Jimmy Neutron. If I did, you'd be the first to know. Well actually, I guess I'd be the first to know. And the people at DNA Productions... Ok, you'd be like the twelfth to know.**

* * *

><p>Cindy spent most of the weekend being drilled by Libby on how to properly answer interview questions<p>

"_Try to restate the question in the answer. And for everyone's sake, try to make the answers pleasant. No saying stuff like 'If I could go anywhere, I'd go to Botswana and help decontaminate the water." No one wants to think about parasites It's all about keeping it upbeat and happy."_

"_So basically try sound as shallow as possible just so the judges can stay in a good mood?"_

"_If that helps, sure! And smile more. A real smile, no smirking."_

It went on for hours each day. She had borrowed a pair of her mom's high heels and practiced walking around the house in them (_What would posses someone to want to wear these on a daily basis?_). But after a while she got used to it, and came to like the feeling of power that came with clicking around and being a few inches taller. Her mother mixed it up at breakfast by switching the chemistry flashcards with potential interview questions. Libby had her sportswear outfit and accessories compiled, and her evening gown was at the tailors having the final touches put on it. She was totally ready for the pageant.

Come Monday, Cindy couldn't wait to get the stupid thing over with, but she'd have to wait for Saturday.

Oh but there were so many things to do before Saturday: they had meetings after school, and run-throughs in the auditorium, and the rehearsal and interview with the judges on Friday. Today there was a meeting at lunch, so she wouldn't get to…er…have to put up with Neutron. And Sheen and Carl.

After a relatively quiet morning of pre-calculus and French class, she walked into History hoping for something to break the boredom . She walked over to her seat. Jimmy had his head down pouring over a book. _Why is he always doing that whenever I walk in?_ She sat down and raised her hand. "Ms. Isbell, do you have our tests graded?"

The elderly teacher looked up. "Yes, because I just _love_ spending my minimal free time during the weekend to correct the examinations of useless facts. No, Miss Vortex, they are not graded."

"Eager to get your defeat out of the way Vortex?" The voice from behind her called out.

She turned her head just enough to catch a glimpse of the big-headed genius. "Your overconfidence amuses me. I shall remember this moment when I receive my superior grade, and laugh even harder."

He gave an obviously false chuckle. "So… are you going to grace us with your presence at lunch today, or am I going to have to start calling myself names in order to fill the daily insult quota."

"It's understandable that you miss my uplifting presence," she laughed, "But you'll have to wait until tomorrow. We have another meeting today."

_Why would he care if I'm at lunch? _Could it be possible that Jimmy truly did miss her? _No, you're reading too much into it. _But the thought stuck with her all through the class.

* * *

><p><em>I really don't see the point of all this. We just had a meeting to explain about the other meetings to practice walking across the stage. This seems like something that could have been just as easily put on the flier they handed out.<em>

She glanced down at the hot pink sheet of paper. No inappropriate attire blah blah blah bring the shoes you plan to wear after school on Friday blah blah blah more obvious stuff that anyone with a brain could have figured out blah blah blah.

She had just stood up to leave the room when she heard the unmistakably shrill voice of her worst nightmare call out, "Oh my Gosh! Cindy! No way, no way!"

_Crap. Ok, remain calm._

She turned around to see none other than Betty Quinlin standing behind her.

"Who would have thought you'd be here? Although I must say: I think it's really great that you would put your dignity on the line just to help out a friend."

'_PUT MY DIGNITY ON THE LINE?' What the heck is that supposed to mean? _Cindy put on her best fake smile. "Excuse me?"

"Well, we all know you aren't exactly the pageant type. I don't think I've _ever_ seen you wear a pair of heels."

Cindy chuckled, "Well, some of us don't need them."

Betty had hit her growth spurt early, and now stood at least four inches shorter than Cindy. Still, her skin-tight black wrap dress and sleek updo make her look extremely classy none-the-less. Cindy suddenly felt very frumpy in her corduroys and long-sleeved white tee-shirt.

"Yes, well…I guess I'll see you at the rehearsal then." Betty walked off, the smile gone from her face.

"Yeah, you will." _Oh how I would love to smack the 'dignity' out of you, but that went away years ago._

"Cindy, did you hear that?" Libby had come up beside her.

"What?"

"There's another meeting tomorrow after school."

"FOR WHAT? what else could they possibly have to say?"

"I don't know, I just organize the thing. I think it'll last a while though, so you'll need the whole afternoon free."

Cindy froze. She had work and judo tomorrow and didn't like to miss things….but if it would bring her one step closer to wiping the smirk off Betty's stupid face, she would do anything.

* * *

><p>Libby smiled to herself as the two headed back to class. Part two of her plan was about to take off. She just had one more accomplice to enlist…<p>

* * *

><p><strong>CLIFF HANGER yeah yeah yeah! More excitement on the way;)<strong>

**Rate kung papayag kayo!**


	10. Oh Snap!

**Ok, here's the thing:**

**When I first started writing this, I swore to myself that I wouldn't put any pop cultural references in here. But the direction that this was taking really required something, so I caved... but it's pretty fitting and the song fits their relationship _ perfectly_ so it's all OK. **

**I do not own Jimmy Neutron or 'Haven't Had Enough", now:**

**READ PUPPETS! MWAHAHAHAHA! I mean...um...enjoy^_^**

* * *

><p>Jimmy walked out of the house Tuesday morning a few minutes earlier than usual. He had gotten enough sleep (for once) last night, which for any other person would be well received. For him, however, it just meant failure. He was no longer experiencing invention epiphanies at three in the morning, or at all for that matter. It was like the small creative part of his brain he become disconnected from the rest.<p>

His self-pity party was cut short, however, when he saw a frantic Cindy pacing in front of her car. He walked closer and noticed the hood was up.

"What's going on?" he approached the vehicle.

"I tried to start my car, but a cylinder misfired. I popped the hood to see what the problem is, and I think I'm missing a spark plug and both my parents have gone to work already. I have NO IDEA how to fix this!" Her faces looked frazzled and he couldn't help but realize how uncharacteristic this was for the ordinarily confident girl to be so panicked.

He didn't like it.

"Calm down. I'll give you a ride to school. We can check out the problem this afternoon."

Her face lit up. "Oh thank you! My mom will kill me if I'm late." Before he could say anything she jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck in an embrace. Even after being under the hood of a car, she still smelled like an intoxicating flower. After a (far too short) moment she realized what she was doing and unwrapped herself from around him. She smiled nervously.

While she rinsed the grease off her hands, he pulled his car around to their driveway. As she got in and adjusted her skirt, he glanced out his window only to see Goddard peeking out from behind a tree. In his mouth was a small screw-like piece of metal that almost looked like…

The realization hit Jimmy. "He couldn't…" he muttered to himself. "He wouldn't."

Goddard's front screen opened to reveal the text: "Oh yes I would."

"That underhanded…"

"What's that?" Cindy fastened her seatbelt.

"Oh nothing. I was just thinking about an invention that's gotten a little to advanced for its own good."

* * *

><p>Once again Cindy found herself in the front seat of the Neutron family car. It was happening a little too often to be a coincidence, in her opinion. Not that she was complaining.<p>

"May I select the radio station?" she asked.

"Go ahead."

She pressed the button a few times to find the station she and Libby usually listened to in the morning. _"I've been stuck now, so long. We just got the start wrong…"_

She let out a squeal. "Oh my gosh, I love this song!"

"You can't stop this, and I must insist that you haven't had enough, you haven't had enough…" She sang along. Jimmy glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "Do you like Marianas Trench?"

"The deepest part of the Ocean in the Western Pacific?"

She sighed, "No, it's a band, Neutron."

"Oh. Never heard of them."

"Well, that's understandable," she conceded, "I've kinda had more music exposure thanks to Libby. What do you usually listen to in the morning?"

"I don't," he said curtly.

"You don't listen to the radio?"

"No, I usually use the mornings for scientific reflection."

"Oh." She suddenly felt very awkward. _I didn't mean to disrupt anything. _She leaned over and shut the radio off.

"You can keep it on, I was just saying…" Jimmy said quickly.

"No, it's alright. I was kind of being officious, taking over like that. It is _your_ car." She sat there in silence for a moment.

"Sometimes it's nice to do something different once and awhile," he grinned at her then quickly turned back to the road. "It did have an infectious rhythm. I don't blame you for wanting to listen to it".

She shrugged, " I have the cd. I can listen to it whenever."

He opened his mouth as if to say something, then shut it. Then opened it again, "Maybe you could bring it over to the lab…and we could…listen to it…together…sometime."

She was totally caught off guard. Her mouth hung open with surprise, but she quickly collected her wits. Then lost them again. _Did he just…_

* * *

><p><em>Did I just…<em> Jimmy couldn't believe the words that just came out of his mouth. One minute he was feeling bad about snapping at Cindy, the next he was…asking her out?

_No, you just asked to listen to a cd; that's not a date. She and Libby do it daily._ But he knew this was different.

"Um, yeah sure." Her voice wavered a bit. "That sounds…nice. It'd have to be after Saturday, of course."

"Oh yeah, the big night. Do you feel ready?"

"I suppose. We haven't really practiced on the stage yet. There's **yet another** meeting after school, because, you know: it's so hard to figure out to go to the auditorium on Friday."

Jimmy chuckled, happy to be off the awkward subject of their da-... whatever it was. Not a date, though. They were just friends.

Although, she had had agreed to it; surely that meant something. He just couldn't figure out for the life of him what.

* * *

><p>Compared to the car ride to school, the rest of the morning was pretty boring for Cindy. She had a quiz in math, so she had to wait until lunch to fill Libby in on what happened. She speculated for a while about whether or not to tell Libby about the…plan to listen to music together. Knowing her she would blow it all out of proportion and make a big deal out of nothing. But logic wasn't her best friend right now.<p>

"Mmm hmm," Libby smiled as Cindy recounted the story, glancing behind her ever few minutes to make she the guys weren't in earshot. "Called it."

"Now don't get all excited, it's not a date."

"Sure it's not."

"Libby…"

"Whatever floats your boat, girl."

Cindy chuckled, remembering Jimmy's comeback to that. Libby raised one eyebrow, but didn't persist because the three boys joined them at the table. They were deep in discussion, so the girls kept turned to face each other.

"So," Cindy changed the subject, "I have to get my French book from my locker after school so do you want me to just meet you in Ms. K's room?"

"What do you mean?"

"The meeting. After school. That we have to go to."

Libby blinked. "Oh. No, that meeting's just for the organizers."

"No, no. I distinctly remember you telling me I had to be here for it."

"I think I'd remember doing that, Cin."

_You've got to be kidding me!_  
>"Libby, I cleared my <strong>entire afternoon<strong> for it. Do you know what's going to happen if I have to explain to my mom that I'm missing work for nothing?"

Libby seemed unphased. "So just go to the library or something. You can get home "when the meeting ends" and she'll be none the wiser."

"Yeah except, " she glanced across the table, "I kinda didn't drive today."

Libby must have caught her drift, because a sneaky smile spread across her face. "Well, in that case," She leaned across the table. Before Cindy could do anything, her friend said in an elevated tone, "Hey Jimmy, would you mind terribly taking Cindy to the library after school today?"

"LIBBY!" Cindy felt her face turning red. "No, you don't have to-"

"Um," Jimmy looked a bit flustered at having been wrenched from his conversation.

"You really don't have to do that. It's fine."

"No, I don't mind… I just really needed to work on something in the lab today."

"Well there you go," Libby flourished her hand towards him, "You can just go hang out there. Your mom will never suspect a thing."

"That works." Jimmy turned back to Sheen, "Now the idea of cloning your Ultralord action figure is unnecessary _partially_ because it is plastic and you could just…"

Cindy turned back around to face a grinning Libby. "You know sometimes I wonder _why_ I'm still friends with you.

"Because nothing would ever get done around here if you weren't".

* * *

><p>The car ride home was certainly less quiet than the one to school that morning. There seemed to be an endless banter between the two, ranging from the ridiculousness of their English teacher assigning a four page paper to the chemistry quiz on reaction prediction.<p>

"I can't believe I missed number four!" They were comparing answers. "It should have been obvious!"

"Well…" Jimmy could feel her glaring as he kept his eyes on the road, "You just have to remember that carboxyl groups are COOH-l."

She burst out laughing. "Did you really just say that?"

"Yeah… things like this are _probably_ the reason why more people don't want to hang out with me."

She was still laughing, "Well, that's their loss."

Her comment caught him off guard. "Cindy Vortex… did you just pay me a compliment?"

She sat in silence for a minute. "I guess I did."

He glanced over to see her smiling at him. It was a rare moment where they could feel the energy flowing between the two of them. Where despite all the squabbles and past drama, they knew everything was ok. It was nice.

Cindy broke the silence. "Don't get used to it."

"I had no intention of doing so."

They arrived at his house and quickly made their way to the entrance of the lab. Mrs. Vortex wasn't due to be home until five, but Cindy wasn't taking any chances. Jimmy silently counted his blessings for his sweet, non-psychopathic mother.

All of their friends had pretty much figured out the secret to getting in the lab years ago, so he had no qualms about her seeing the DNA scanner. Once they got into the lab, he gestured to a chair, but she was too preoccupied looking at all the changes he had made.

"Wow," she said in awe, "It's been a while since I've been in here."

Jimmy walked over to his desk. "Yeah, we haven't been on many adventures since homework started taking multiple hours to complete." He sat down.

She wandered over to look at the papers on his desk. "So what are you working on now?"

"Well… nothing at the moment. My creativity has kinda been on strike."

She put her hands on her hips. "I never thought I'd see this day."

He shrugged "So what do you wanna do?"

"I'd get my cd, except it's up in my room and knowing my luck, my mother would come home the second I walked over."

"Well, I have a radio here. What station was it on this morning?"

She shook her head, "Anything that's not 'Top Forty' rarely comes on more than once a day, and there's no way of knowing what other station would play it." She sighed. "I wish there was some way to find songs on the radio without having to buy one of those 'customize' things."

That's when it hit him. He looked up with an enormous smile on his face. "Cindy, that's it!"

"What?"

"My newest invention!" he pulled out a clean sheet of drafting paper. "I can create a device to scan radio waves and detect what songs are playing on each station. That way people can listen to what they really want to."

"That's great…it's just…"

He looked up, "Just what?"

"Well, that doesn't really sound like your usual creations. It's brilliant, but…"

"Not Earth-shattering…" he put the pencil down. "Man, what is wrong with me? Is it possible to peak at the age of sixteen? Can I just not create anymore"

He turned to face away from his desk and cradled his face in his hands.

"Jimmy…" Cindy said softly. She walked around so where as sat and kneeled down to sit on her heels.

Then she slapped him across the face. "Don't be such an idiot! People spend their entire lives trying to accomplish **a fourth **of what you've done. You need to stop this whole "poor pathetic me" thing. Just because you're having dry spell doesn't mean you're washed up: something will come. But you need to **stop** acting like this. It is _really _obnoxious."

He stared at her face. He smart-aleck, overzealous, bossy, completely unsympathetic, know-it-all face…that was totally and completely right. Her smooth, bright, feminine face with sparkling green eyes and soft pink lips.

_That's not how you're supposed to think about your 'just friend' you know. Oh shut up, you know it's not true. It's never been true._

He closed his eyes and imagined kissing those folds of perfect skin. Her warm flesh meeting his in a soft fit of pure bliss.

_Wait a minute. How am I imagining warmth?_

He opened his eyes to see his face was mere centimeters away from hers. Her eyes were wide with shock and disbelief. She stood up quickly.

_Oh crap! Did I just…_

* * *

><p><em><strong>BAHM BAHM BAAAAAAAAAAAAAHM! Oh, it gets even better;)<strong>_

_**Oh, btdubs, the whole 'keeping the populace' happy thing was a joke. I really needed to move on from that sections, so don't be worried; you're not pressuring me:)**_

_**Review si ou tanpri!**  
><em>


	11. Possibility for Disaster

**Gasp! So much drama. Will they handle this in a mature and appropriate way? Pshht, what show have you been watching?**

**My kidnapping skills have become a little rusty over the years, so until the president of Viacom's security becomes lax, I do not own Jimmy Neutron.**

* * *

><p>Had that really happened? Did he really just...<p>

Jimmy stood up.

_Oh, this is not good. This is not good!_

If he didn't proceed with caution, he risked alienating her. "Cindy, I'm sorry! I didn't…"

As he spoke she took a step towards him. He braced himself in case she was going to start yelling or hit him again.

But she did neither of those things. She instead placed her hands on either side of his face and pulled him down to meet her accommodating lips.

_This is not going as expected. _After a moment of hesitation, he wrapped his arms around her slender waist and met her kiss with an equally ravenous one.

He tried to think of all the reasons why they shouldn't be doing this, but it was hard to compete with the sweetness of her mouth or her intoxicating aroma. _Pull yourself together. Think Fibonacci sequence: 0,1,1,2,3,5,8…um…_ Slowly his thought faded away until all that was left were his senses. Reason and doubt no longer existed. There was him and there was Cindy, slowly becoming one.

She broke the trance by pushing him away. "Oh my gosh, what are we doing? We can't be doing this."

She paced across the room. "I can't…we can't…oh no."

"Cindy…"

"I have to go home." She walked over to the spot under the exit tube.

"But what about your mother?"

She pushed the button. "I'll deal with it!" And in a flash she was gone.

He sat back down at his desk. Goddard came out from behind the couch and put his head on Jimmy's lap.

"That did not go according to plan."

The screen opened up to show the words, "Now what?"

"I don't know boy. I really do not know."

* * *

><p>Cindy sat on her bed, her thoughts a whirl. <em>Oh my gosh. I can't believe that just happened.<em>

One moment she was telling Neutron to get a grip, the next thing she knew he shut his eyes and leaned ever so slightly forward, sealing the gap between them. With his mouth.

She was too stunned to do anything; but the second he opened his eyes, she knew there would be trouble. Then, without thinking, she repeated his actions, only with slightly more…enthusiasm.

_What's the big deal, you've kissed before? If you're referring to the meaningless peck when we were eleven; that hardly counts. We were too young to really understand what we were feeling, that's why we decided to just stay friends. What about in eighth grade? I'm pretty sure you knew exactly what you were doing then._

She let out a sigh. Yes, their last venture into romance had been taken a bit more seriously. But…she didn't want to think about it right now. This was trouble enough.

_Stupid Neutron, as if I don't have enough to think about right now! Everything was just fine and he had to go and… Why does he have to complicate EVERYTHING? Although…I guess that **was** sort of my fault this time._

She really couldn't pass the blame: his kiss had been quick and innocent. It could have been passed off as an accident. What she did… well there was no denying that that was no accident. No one could _accidently _make her blood race or her body heat rise like **that.** She shut her eyes and replayed the moment in her mind. It made her feel warmer just to think about it.

_NO! You can't do that. We are in the middle of a crisis, you can't start getting all empty-headed thinking about it. How do you stay friends with someone after that? _ Oh she should have known better: you could practically _see_ the electricity between them today. She shouldn't have gone into the lab with him. She shouldn't have listened to Libby…

_LIBBY!_ She'd have to tell her all about ... _No! She can never know about this! Things are going to be weird enough._ She already wouldn't leave her alone about Jimmy, if she discovered that something had actually happened…

_Why did I do that? This is what happens when you act impulsively._

A voice called from downstairs, "Cynthia, dinner is ready. Go wash your hands!"

And now she had to act like everything was normal, because if her mother found out what had happened this afternoon…

* * *

><p>For once, her mother's total control over the dinner-time conversations were a good thing, because it meant she could just keep quiet and pretend to listen to the stories about her day at work.<p>

She let out a small sigh of relief, but accidently made eye contact with her mother while she re-filled her water glass. "And how was school today Cynthia?"

"Very informative."

"Did you get your history test back?"

"No ma'am."

"Anything new assigned?"

"I have to do a paper of _Heart of Darkness_."

"And did you put that on the planner?"

"Of course." _Ok, if I can just keep the conversation school oriented maybe she won't ask about the meeting._

He father wrecked her plan. "So are you ready for Saturday, pumpkin?"

_Dang it_. "Um, as ready as I can be dad. We have our first practice tomorrow."

Her mother looked up. "Ah yes, I need to alert Ms. Harmon of the lesson cancellation. Am I to assume that Liberty will be giving you a ride to school?"

_Oh no, I completely forgot about that!_ Wednesdays were Libby's carpool day. _Crap, she's going to figure out that something is going on._ "Um, yeah. I guess so."

"Don't mutter, Cynthia, it's most unbecoming."

"Oh, speaking of cars," her dad interrupted, "I checked yours out Cin and everything seemed to be in order. No spark plugs were missing."

That's weird. "I wonder why it wouldn't start then?"

"Maybe you just put the key in the wrong way?"

"Ha!" Mrs. Vortex scoffed. "Our daughter does not make careless mistakes like that."

She wanted to burst out laughing. You_ don't know the half of it._

* * *

><p>Jimmy lie awake, unable to shake the day's events from his mind. How do you interact after something like that? Was he supposed to act like nothing happened? Talk to her about it? Try it again?<p>

_NO! That would not help anything._ They needed to get around it, not relive it. That would only further complicate matters; the last thing he needed was to be starting something with Cindy.

_Would that really be so bad though? Yes, look at your track record with her. It NEVER ends well. You can hardly arrive at an accurate conclusion after only two trials._

Well, not even two. You could hardly expect two kids to maintain a healthy relationship. And the most recent one…well…life just gets in the way sometimes.

_There you go again, treating everything like a science experiment. This isn't a controlled thing that you can just quit if something goes wrong; this is a real thing with real people and emotions involved._

Namely, with Cindy involved. Cindy: the smartest, most amazing person he knew. Cindy: who could, with one sentence, could insult him yet make him feel better at the same time. Cindy: who mere hours ago had her face close enough to his to…

He stopped that train of thought before it went too far.

_Ugh, stuff like this couldn't happen on the weekend when I have time to think-_

The weekend? Oh no, Saturday was the pageant. What was he supposed to do about that? Should he go? Would Cindy even want him there?

_I don't see why not, she's made it clear she, ahem, enjoys your company._

He groaned. Why was this so confusing? He had no trouble deciphering Newton's motivation, but one silly girl steps in and his mind went to applesauce.

_Of course, Newton doesn't have radiant green eyes and a perfect sense of humor..._

* * *

><p>Somehow Cindy managed to avoid the topic of the previous evening. Libby was too preoccupied with finding an outfit for Saturday.<p>

"_You do know that you're not going to be on stage at all?"_

"_Yeah, but that's no reason not to look fabulous."_

She managed to push the incident to the back of her mind…at least until she got to history.

She hesitated before walking in the door. _Ok, just go to your seat and act normal. If he says anything… well, I'll deal with that. Somehow._

She entered the room and tried to keep her heartbeat steady. Her seat seemed colder than usual. The room seemed to be awkwardly quiet.

"Alright, I gave up watching my soap operas last night to grade these tests, so I hope you miscreants are happy." Mrs. Isbell distributed the papers. Cindy looked at hers. _100. _Ordinarily she would be filled with joy and immediately turn around to gloat, but she wasn't sure if that was really appropriate right now.

_Oh please, it's not like you tried to kill him. You're still friends; if you play it off as nothing maybe things can go back to normal._ But she wasn't sure if she wanted things to go back to normal. After last night normal seemed kind of…boring. But what choice did she have?

She turned slightly, poised to comment about the test, but noticed that Jimmy had gotten up. He had moved to the other side of the room and was saying something to some whose named escaped her. Alison maybe? He said something to her and she chuckled and playfully swatted his arm. He grinned.

For some reason that made Cindy want to hit her. Hard.

He looked up and caught her gaze, then immediately glanced back to the girl and gestured to the paper he was holding. She whipped back around.

_He wants to be like that? Fine. We don't have to talk. We don't have to talk at all. _

The situation could stay exactly as it was. She didn't care.

A gnawing feeling in her stomach tried to tell her that wasn't true, but she was done listening to whims; they only got her in trouble.

* * *

><p><strong>Oh you kids and your melodramatics! But then again, that's what gives me something to do.<strong>

**Review ha volna szíves!**


	12. Deduction Destruction

**Sorry this took so long, I was having a bit of writer's block. **

**This is a bit more serious because, well, obviously some issues have arrives. But don't freak out, please don't freak out.**

**When I rise to a position of power, my first act will be to obtain ownership of Jimmy Neutron. Until then, alas, it is not mine.**

* * *

><p>Jimmy walked back over to his desk after he finished explaining Alison's mistakes. Some people just were not meant to take A.P. classes. Shouldn't it be <em>obvious<em> that president Cleveland's two **nonconsecutive **terms would not be eight years straight? It was almost embarrassing. The biggest downfall to having a genius I.Q. definitely had to be other people wanting to compare test answers with yours to see where they messed up.

He came up the aisle and noticed that Cindy had her English book open, taking notes.

_Well, it's now or never._ "Hey."

"Hello" she didn't turn around.

"How did you do on the test?"

"Fantastic." He noticed an edge to her voice.

Ok, maybe she was upset about last night. _Wait why is __**she**__ upset? __**She's**__ the one who attached herself to my face._ He thought back to the conversation he and his dad had a few years ago.

"_Son, when it comes to women you really only have to remember one thing: you will __**always**__ be wrong."_

"_But dad, statistically speaking one person can't be incorrect in every-"_

"_Geometry's got nothing to do with it Jimbo, it's a mental thing. But if you think about it: they keep us from killing ourselves on a daily basis and spending all our time polishing ducks. Now, who wants pie?"_

_Ok, even though this is totally and completely ludicrous, I suppose I ought straighten things out. Women… why do I even bother?_

At that moment she brushed her hair out of her face and sent a waft of jasmine his way.

_Oh yeah…_

He shook his head. Life would be so much easier if biology didn't wreck his senses.

* * *

><p>When the bell rang Cindy collected all her things and headed into the hall as quickly as possible. She just needed to get away from him before she did something stupid. Again.<p>

She made it to her locker and started to turn the dial when she heard a voice right behind her, "Hey. I think we need to talk."

_That has to be the most ominous phrase in the English language._ She was pretty sure nothing good could come from 'needing' to talk. She turned around to face him, trying not to show any of the emotions that were creating havoc in her mind

"I really don't think there's anything to talk about." She tried to keep her tone even but it came out harsher than she intended.

"I have to disagree." He looked nervous. "Between what happened yesterday and, well, now…I don't know. I feel like you're kinda giving off mixed signals."

She wanted to scoff. _I'm giving off mixed signals? He's the one chatting it up with that stupid bimbo as if I'm not even in the room!_

"Is there a point to this Neutron? Or can I open my locker now?"

"I guess…I mean. Ugh! Ok, I'm not going to pretend that the…incident in the lab didn't happen, but we need to decide a course of action. What do we do now?"

She didn't want to answer that. She didn't know the right answer, and the first rule of school is: don't raise your hand if you aren't one hundred percent positive that your answer is correct. Only this time, there was a lot more at stake than having the teacher correct you.

There was only one way to possibly come out on top. "Well Neutron, as much as I hate to admit it, you are the more intelligent one and usually have sound judgment. We've been friends for years and I think you know me well enough to make an informed decision: what do you think we should do? Use your skills in deductive reasoning to decide what you think is the best thing to do."

"Well, I actually think this falls under _inductive_ reasoning. Deduction implies that a specific conclusion is arrived at from a general principle-"

"You're really going to do that _right now?_"

"Sorry." He sighed. "Well, I guess there's really only one thing we can do, considering all that's happened."

She felt something get tight in her chest.

"I think it'd be best for both of us if we just leave it in the past and restore our relationship to as it was before." Her heart sank. Now she was _really_ glad she didn't make the decision. "I mean, people often do stupid, thoughtless thinks in the heat of the moment, right?"

"Yeah, I guess they do." _Stupid? So to him it was stupid? Well, it's nice to know where you stand. You and your stupid thoughtless actions that apparently only mean anything to you._

"Well, I'm going to head to lunch. I'll see ya." He walked off.

She wanted to sink to the floor and just lie there. She couldn't of course because there were people everywhere and who knew what kind of bacteria made permanent residence, but it was hard to maintain composure.

_You have to keep it together: there's so much to do today alone. You have the run-through after school today and who knows how long that will take. Hmm… perhaps it would be best if I went to the library during lunch and worked on homework since I won't have much time tonight._ Libby's locker is near there, so she could let her know. She'd understand: Cindy was _always_ busy and needed some time to catch up. _I'm busy, that is all. The fact that I'm pretty sure my heart's been split in two has nothing to do with it._

* * *

><p>The next two days passed, and although they had decided to let things go back to normal, jimmy felt like nothing was settled. She never put her hair on his desk, or wanted to compare grades, or even smirk at him when he answered incorrectly in English. There were rarely any joking banter between them, and even when there was, Cindy seemed out of it. He understood she was under a lot of stress because of the pageant…but if anyone could handle pressure, it was her.<p>

_You don't think I made the wrong decision…_

Of course not! What else _could_ they do? Really? Besides, there was no way she wanted to be… he tried to push it from his mind. Cindy must just be upset from her hectic week: the best thing he could do was stay out of her way and let everything go back to normal.

_What exactly is normal with her?_

He wasn't sure, but it certainly wasn't the quiet and…ok, he'd say it, boring person that she was acting like now. He certainly hoped this wasn't what 'just-friend' Cindy always acted like; because that would definitely make this the wrong decision. He needed the animated and lively girl that kept him on his toes and pressured him to try harder. He needed someone to challenge the conventions that he often took too seriously. He needed… her.

_But not like **that, **I don't mean it like ** that**... Do I?_

* * *

><p><strong> AHHHH! People will be freaking out for sure now. Calm yo-selves though, just take my word;)<strong>

**Review jika anda berkenan!**


	13. Sudden and Gradual Realization

**Sorry to keep you all in suspense for so long. I'm pretty sure school is actually a conspiracy to keep ****everyone miserable and not writing finfics. Anyway: here you go. (It's not exactly exciting, but it will be soon)**

**What do Jimmy Neutron and a life have in common? I don't have either! **

**Hahaha...uh huh huh...ugh what is wrong with me?**

**Oh well, enjoy ^_^**

* * *

><p>The lunch table was abuzz with chatter. Everyone seemed content and totally at ease. Something was definitely wrong.<p>

Libby watched suspiciously as Cindy had an amiable discussion with Sheen. _Since when does she sit across from him? What could he possibly say that wouldn't make her want to strangle him? _Jimmy listened eagerly as Carl told him all about his newest allergy. _Something is definitely up. _She wondered if it had anything to do with their evening together…which now that she thought about it, she had never gotten the details. That either meant it was great and Cindy was trying to be sneaky, or something went horribly wrong.

"Sheen sweetie, will you go get my history book out of my locker? I forgot to get it earlier."

"But Libbycakes… pudding…I…" She stuck out her bottom lip and batted her eyes. "Oh, alright," he left the table.

Jimmy turned to look at her. "Does Sheen even know which locker is yours?"

"Oh, good point. Jimmy…" She stuck out her lip again.

"That's not going to work on me."

"I'll give you five bucks."

"Sheen, wait up!"

She turned to face Cindy. "Alright girl, spill: what happened last night?"

She almost choked on her protein shake. "Happened? To what are you referring?"

Libby raised one eyebrow. "Do we _really_ have to go through this every time?"

"Libs, I really do not want to talk about it. For once can you just let it go?"

Ordinarily when Cindy tried to avoid a topic, she sounded annoyed or like she was trying to hide how happy she was. Now she just sounded… defeated. Libby didn't like this; it would take something major to upset her friend like this.

"Look, I'm not asking to be a busy-body. I'm just worried about you. You can tell me anything, you know that."

She patted Cindy's arm.

The blond girl sighed. "Yeah, I know. Ok: it all started in the car Tuesday…"

* * *

><p>Jimmy left the school building, glad to be done for the day. With great difficulty he managed to resist the desire to talk to Cindy. The pageant was tomorrow and she should be able to relax, with at least one less issue to worry about. He was about to enter the gate to the parking lot when he noticed Libby storming towards him with Sheen and Carl in tow.<p>

"Hey guys. What's-"

"WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU!" Libby screeched. From behind her Sheen winced and Carl looked as though he was going to cry. "DO you just _take pleasure_ in making life difficult for everyone else?"

"What in the name of Heinrich Hertz are you talking about?"

"Look Jimmy, we know about what went down with you and Cindy, and it's really…"

"Wait, what? Why do you… You know what, it doesn't matter what happened because it's really none of your business…"

"NONE OF OUR BUSINESS? Don't you get it? Pretty much everything that happens between you two affects **all** of us. You might be the only two _**directly**_ affected, but all of us get dragged into it, and now **I** have to be the one to pick up the pieces when my best friend's had her heart broken, so don't even FOR A SECOND try to tell me this is none of my business. Now, we are all getting tired of this stupid charade so I suggest you do something about it."

He was stunned. He had never seen this sort of outburst from her. "I…I don't know what you want me to do."

"Make it right." She turned and walked in the other direction. Sheen shrugged his shoulders then ran to catch up with her.

"But how do I-"

"Make it right," she called, still walking off.

He walked to his car, thinking about all she had said. He never thought about how other people were affected by all this.

_You aren't the best at considering others. You don't care how many times Carl gets shocked, just as long as you get conclusive data for an experiment. It doesn't matter if someone gets hurt._

…_gets hurt._ Libby's words came to mind. "…_and now __**I**__ have to be the one to pick up the pieces when my best friend's had her heart broken."_

_Oh no…_

* * *

><p>As soon as the bell rang, Cindy changed into her interview outfit and headed to the auditorium. She sat down in the last row, hoping to avoid the other girls who were nervously preparing for their interviews. Ms. Kirkwood had the freshman contestants practicing their walks onstage.<p>

"It's just like I told you yesterday: you walk halfway to the front the pause, walk to the front and pose, then turn and walk to the back and stop one more time. Face the audience, smile, and then walk off stage left. We don't want to back up traffic flow."

Cindy rolled her eyes. Ms. Kirkwood's attempts at humor usually made her laugh, but right now they just seemed obnoxious. She _really_ didn't want to be here. The decision to do the pageant seemed more and more like a bad idea with each passing day.

The freshman and sophomores finished their stage walks and she managed to pull herself up from the seat and make her way to the stage. After watching the other four girls bounce about the stage in a disgustingly perky way, she walked up the steps when her name was called.

"You need to be more enthusiastic, Cindy. Put your usual spunk into your pose, here try…" Ms. K's words of encouragement were interrupted by a man in a navy blazer who quietly said something the teacher. "Ok, you can try that again later. The judges are ready for you."

Cindy made her way to the back room where the judges were. She adjusted her cropped red jacket then opened the door. There were four people sitting on one side of a long wooden table. She recognized one woman as the senior class adviser and Coach Palmer, the gym teacher.

The other woman (she looked to be in her early thirties, youngish with dark brown hair)gestured for her to sit in the chair opposite them.

_Ok, you have to pull yourself together and at least__** try**__. For Libby's sake._

She put a big smile on her face and made her way to the chair.

"Hi, I'm Cindy Vortex."

"Hello Cindy," the young woman said. She looked down at the sheet of paper in front of her. "If you could describe yourself in one word, what would it be?"

_Are you kidding me? Original much? Ok, think. Be positive and play up your strengths._

"I would describe myself as being persistent; I will keep trying until I succeed and often look for new ways to challenge myself."

_Of course, I haven't been doing a lot of that lately._

_But maybe I should start._

* * *

><p><strong>Yay! More cliff hangers! Our story is nearing its exciting apex;)<strong>

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	14. A Philodoxical Attitude

**Slowly picking up speed!**

**You know, I bet we could start a petition and soon enough I could own Jimmy Neutron. Just throwin that out there**

* * *

><p>The evening before, Libby's instructions had seemed strange. Cindy had no idea why she should 'be in bed no later than 9:30.' Now they made perfect sense: she had been rousted from her bed by her best friend and her mother, and was now sitting in her kitchen with a seaweed mud mask on her face and her hair, soaked with deep conditioner, up in a shower cap. All before ten on a Saturday morning.<p>

"You do realize that we have about seven hours before I even need to be at the school, right?" she yawned sleepily. It is just ridiculous to wake someone up at seven-thirty, force feed them a grapefruit and herbal tea, then make them recite their introduction for an **hour**.

"One can never be too prepared Cynthia." He mother was buffing her nails with a file. "Alright, I'm going to fill the tub with hot water, then retrieve the bath oil. Liberty if you would be so kind as to remove the seaweed pack from her face once it is dry; I don't want to risk an allergic reaction."

"Sure thing Mrs. V!" With that, her mother left the room.

"Libby, is all this really necessary? I did have things I wanted to accomplish today."

"Like what? Sulking in your room while you read Jane Austin novels? If anything this will keep your mind off….other things. How did your interview go, by the way? I forgot to call you yesterday afternoon."

"It was satisfactory. Yeah, I looked for you afterwards but they said you didn't come."

"Oh yeah," Libby chuckled, "I had some… business to attend to." She thought she saw a brief smirk appear on her friend's face.

"Libby, what did you-"

"So what did they ask you? Not the dreaded 'if you could go one place in the world…', that always trips people up. You did say 'um' did you?"

"Slow down Colonel Nosenko! No they didn't ask me that and I'm pretty sure I refrained from hesitation. I don't know, they were pretty general questions. One did stand out to me though; they asked what I thought society needed the most."

"And what did you say?"

"More emphasis on education. Not test scores or filling quotas, but the actual learning aspect. You start out life with so much potential and if kids could just be given the chance to flourish if a field that they are passionate about, the drop-out rate would be much lower. You know, teachers are pretty much responsible for the future of every child that they influence. The kids they teach might go on to be a senator or doctor or philanthropist who really makes a difference in the world, and yet they receive disgustingly low salaries while people whose careers serve only as entertainment to the masses-"

Libby interrupted, "I really hope you didn't ramble like this in front of the judges. That would be some serious dockage of points."

Cindy sighed. There was just no getting through to some people.

"Can I take this gunk off my face now?"

* * *

><p>Jimmy sat in his room passing the hypercube from one hand to the other, absent mindedly. He had been completely preoccupied by the nonsense of the previous day for the last few hours. He knew what tonight was, but felt severely conflicted about the plan action to take.<p>

It was five thirty and he only had a brief period of time to decide what he was going to do.

"_Make it right." Make it right? What does that even mean? I thought we did make it right._ It wasn't his fault if girls are so totally crazy that they can't express what they really want. Why was it his job to know what she's feeling every second of every day? If she didn't like the terms of the arrangement, then she should have said something.

_Would you have done things any differently if the scenario was reversed?_ That was really beside the point. Maybe if she had interjected things would be…could be different. _No, things can't be different. Do you want them to be? It doesn't matter. They just can't. _

_Then how the heck am I supposed to 'make it right'?_

The door opened and Sheen and Carl entered; their clothing more presentable than usual.

"Alright Jimmy, start up the hover car. Libby-kins wants me to be there by at least 5:45 in order to get her a good seat. She's helping backstage but-"

"I'm not going to that stupid thing, Sheen. There's absolutely no reason to."

"Ok…but here's the thing: neither of us have a ride, so…"

"'Make it right.' What does that even mean?"

"Oh good, still dwelling on yesterday I see."

"Yeah, so what if I am? It's kind of taken a toll on me. You need to get your woman in line, Sheen!"

"Yeah, that's not really how things work in our relationship. I'm more of the 'loyal follower' in this situation..."

"Who does she think she is? Telling **me** to fix everything; I don't have to fix anything! Maybe I want things to stay as they are!"

"**Do** you want things to stay as they are?" Sheen caught him off guard.

There was a pause.

"I don't know. But even if I don't, i'd like to make the decision to change things on my own terms. Libby doesn't have the right to tell me to do something like that just because her friends wants me to."

"I suppose that makes sense." Sheen stroked his chin. "As a man, you have the right to do whatever you want when it comes to the ladies."

"Thank you!"

"As much as I care for my Ultra Lady, she did sort of assume that you wanted to be starting something with her home-girl."

"Yeah," Carl said meekly, "Maybe you don't want to be more than friends with Cindy."

"Huh?"

Carl and Sheen exchanged glances. Sheen continued, "Yeah, why would you want to be _anything_ with her."

"Hold on now…"

"I mean, she can be scary and enraged a lot," Carl interrupted.

"And no fun at all. And don't know why Libby is such good friends with her; I'm not even sure if Cindy knows what fun is. You can't have a conversation with her without being insulted or yelled at."

"I think you guys need to-"

"And what do you too have in common, really?" Carl was pushing it. "I just can't see anyone being made happy by Cindy Vortex."

"So Jim, I guess we should tell Libby that she can-"

Jimmy had had enough. "_You_ aren't going to do anything! Who are you to criticize anyone? Yes she might be abrasive and violent sometimes, but Cindy can be sweet and is really smart and… and…"

The two other boys leaned in. "Yes…"

_And clever. And hilarious. And absolutely perfect._ And he was letting her slip away. He was such an idiot.

He walked over to his dresser and took a pair of slacks and a dress shirt out and headed for the bathroom.

"Give me just a minute."

When he walked out, the two boys silently bumped fists.

"Ow! Sheen, that really hurt."

"Carl," Sheen whispered, "You have to be quiet! Oh man, who would have thought that this actually worked. My lady is so smart!"

Jimmy came back into the room. "Come on guys," he grabbed a jacket from his closet. "We have a pageant to get to. I just need to make a quick stop first."

* * *

><p><strong>I don't know about you all, but the suspense is killing me.<strong>

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	15. Spotlight

**Hee hee, so exciting:D Bonus points if you see the references**

**I think i've made it pretty clear that I do not own Jimmy Neutron...yet**

* * *

><p>"Cool it with the hairspray Libby! I'm not going to be able walk across the stage if I asphyxiate!"<p>

Backstage was crazy, with girls running around trying to get their outfits together and make-up 'perfect'. It would be pretty hilarious if Cindy was in the middle of all the nonsense.

"I'm just trying to make sure your curls stay. You don't want to have the go all flat before you even go out on stage."

"Those stupid hot rollers were in for **two hours**! It better stay."

Libby gave the blond waves one last spritz. "There. Now, let me see the full effect." She stepped back. "Just as I thought: a ten on the fabulous scale!"

Cindy rolled her eyes, but was secretly pretty happy with the results. Libby had picked out a perfect outfit: a silky tank top that she tucked into a lacy white skirt that came up to her natural waist, topped off with a light pink cardigan with a beaded flower design along the opening. It somehow managed to look sophisticated and pretty.

"Perfect. And the best part is: when this is all over, you can wear it to school."

"Not with these shoes! If I stepped on someone's foot I'd gouge it."

Libby laughed. "Alright, I'm going to take my seat now. I'll be back at intermission to help you change. Good luck girl, not that you'd need it." And with that, she left.

And thus began the great wait. _Great, how long will it take the freshman and sophomores to go? Ok, there are about eighteen of them altogether and I'm the fifth junior so…twenty-two people? Geez._

Cindy wrung her hands. _Not that I'm nervous. Why would I be nervous? It's just a stupid pageant._

Curse Libby and her influence.

* * *

><p>As Libby approached her seat, she noticed that a nervous looking Jimmy was on the other side of Sheen.<p>

_Man, I __**am**__ good._

She tried to maintain an aloof manner as she sat down. Sheen was trying to figure out the program, so she took the opportunity to lean around him.

"What are you doing here?"  
>"Making things right." She sat back and smiled.<p>

They sat through the thirty minutes that it took the underclassmen to present, and watched as the four other junior girls tried to make an impression.

In Libby's opinion, they were greatly unimpressive. Sure, Betty did look nice and Emily appeared to be the only one with a real smile on her face, but none of them really made an impact. Their introductions that they were required to say (usually with some inspirational quote to give some insight into their minds) were cheesy and made most of them seem really fake.

"And now, Contestant number twenty-three: Miss Cindy Vortex." The M.C. announced. Cindy took a confident step onto the stage and smiled. Her face looked sassy and self-assured. She strutted to the front of the stage, took an authoritative stance, and placed one hand on her hip. "Good evening. I'm Cindy Vortex. Evan Esar once said, "Success is the good fortune that comes from aspiration, desperation, perspiration and inspiration." I am certain that we have all put a fair amount of each into preparing for tonight." The crowd chuckled. "This is a philosophy that we must use, not just in school, but in life. I hope you remember me: contestant twenty-three, who is determined to succeed."

_Girl, you got this in the bag._

* * *

><p>Sooner than expected, intermission rolled around and Libby made her way backstage. Mrs. Vortex stood outside of one of the make-shift dressing rooms the organization committee had made out of sheets.<p>

"She's getting her dress on, Liberty. I'll go reserve a spot at the mirror so you can do her hair when she's finished. You two decided on the French twist with some loose curls around her face, correct?"

"Yes Mrs. V." She turned to the fabric cave. "C'mon Girl, you're undoing a zipper, not a strand of RNA."

"I would respond to that, but I'm actually more impressed with the reference."

"But you did respond-" The sheet opened and Cindy stepped out holding the bottom of the skirt so as not to trip on it.

"Well, what's the damage?"

The dress looked even more amazing on. It was the lightest shade of periwinkle, with a wide v-neck that wasn't so deep that it was indecent, but showed a fair amount of her porcelin skin. It hugged her hips and legs then fanned out below her knees. The was a smattering of tiny blue crystals around the neckline and a few pleats that wrapped around her mid-section, making her already tiny waist look smaller.

"Girl, you look gorgeous. It's going to turn some heads. Now let's give it the finishing touches."

* * *

><p>Jimmy applauded as Betty walked off the stage. Some people might describe her skin-tight red dress as aesthetically pleasing, but he found it more in the neighborhood of tawdry.<p>

"Next up, contestant number twenty-three: Miss Cindy Vortex. Miss Vortex is currently involved in the Junior National Honor Society and debate team. Her hobbies include various martial arts, playing the piano, and reading novels. He is described as a 'go-getter' who loves a challenge…" the announcer rambled on as she made her walk around the stage, but Jimmy was completely oblivious to it and everything else in the room except for the goddess on the stage. The remarkable beauty whose blond hair seemed to form a halo around her face, whose eyes reflected the blue from her dress and looked as though they were two pools of mystery. The gems on her dress and necklace made her sparkle like an otherworldly being.

_You do realize this is still the same old Cindy that you've spent half your life arguing with?_

No, this was a different creature; one of grace and splendor. Granted, she could probably leave him within an inch of death if she truly felt like it, but that just added to her mystique.

He was sad to see her leave the stage, and managed to come back to the real world long enough to clap with the rest of the audience.

* * *

><p>The judges had finished tallying the votes, and were now just killing the audience with suspense.<p>

_Hurry up already!_ Libby was eager to hear the results. It was always satisfying to see her weeks of work come to fruition. She smiled to herself as she thought of the look on Jimmy's face. She chanced a glance away during Cindy's walk, and couldn't believe the trance he seemed to be in.

_There's got to be some career that would allow me to make brilliant plans for a living, 'cause I am too good to let this gift go to waste._

Finally the judges were finished torturing them and were ready to announce the winners. The overall awards were first and she was delighted to see Cindy win best interview and sportswear. Some girl she recognized from Cindy's soccer games won 'best evening wear' (and she had to admit that the deep midnight blue gown _did_ compliment her red hair nicely), and Betty gushed when she won 'most ad sales for the program'.

The group clapped politely for the freshman and sophomore winner, but all grabbed hands when they started on the juniors.

"Second runner up…..Miss Betty Quinlin!" Libby had to stop herself from laughing when a horrified look spread on the brunette's face (although she instantly replaced it with a smile and accepted the trophy).

"First runner up…..Miss Emily Kapnek!" she ran up with a huge smile on her face.

_C'mon Cindy, don't let me down!_

"And finally, this year's Miss Junior is…."

You could hear a pin drop.

"…Miss Cindy Vortex."

The blond girl's jaw dropped, and for a moment it looked as though she was going to laugh. She caught herself, though, and stepped forward. Last year's Miss R.H. placed the tiara on her head and handed her the shiny gold trophy.

Libby beamed. "Well how about that?"

"Was there ever a doubt, really?" Jimmy smiled at her.

"I guess there wasn't. No doubt at all."

_About a lot of things._

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><p><strong>But wait, there's more;)<strong>

**Review jei jums patinka!**


	16. The Real Prize

**AHHHHH! It's almost over! This will probably be the second to last enstallment, so savor it!**

**If you want a better idea of what Cindy's outfits look like, go to polyvore .com and search TwoDaysTooLate, I've recreated a few**

**I do not own Jimmy Neutron, but I have ways. Perhaps I could dress up as Keith Alcorn for Halloween and convince the lawyers to "let me hold the ownership contract for a minute" hmmm...**

* * *

><p>Cindy was about to go blind from all the camera flashes. "Enough pictures mom, my face is starting to hurt from smiling so much."<p>

Mrs. Vortex took one last shot, and then put the camera back in her over-sized purse. "All right I'm done. Now I'm going to pack up your things in the dressing room. I assume your friends will be looking for you. Your father has gone to get the car from the parking lot. Be ready to leave no later than eight-thirty."

She atarted to walk away, but instead pulled her daughter into a hug. "You did wonderful tonight darling. I'm very proud of you."

_Wait…what?_

"You are?"

"Cynthia Aurora Vortex, what kind of question is that? Of course I'm proud of you! I'm proud of all your accomplishments. Surely you know that." And with that she was off.

_Well…this day has just been one surprise after another. _

Suddenly Libby ran up from behind and tackle-hugged her.

"Ahh, girl I just knew you could do it!" She squealed while slowly cutting off her friend's circulation.

"Ok, chill out. And please don't knock me over; these shoes are sparkly death traps." She chuckled, "But thanks. It's entirely because of you that I won."

"Naw, you were-"

At that moment they saw an irritated looking Betty walk past.

"Hey Quinlin," Cindy called out. She turned. "Good job tonight. You look really pretty."

Betty's face gave a confused expression. "Thanks… you did great." She regained her usual composure. "Now we just have to wait until next year for me to regain my title!" She walked away.

"What the heck was that?"

"It's her night too, Libby."

"So…we're nice to her now?"

"Oh goodness, no! She messes with me again and I'll stab her with a protractor!"

Libby laughed; then leaned her head back to look around Cindy. "Well…as exciting as this all has been, I really need to get home."

"But you just-"

"Come on Sheen!" she sauntered quickly towards the door. Libby grabbed his wrist and fled the building.

"Is there some reason that everyone keeps running away from me tonight?" she yelled after her friend.

"It's the tiara; it's pretty intimidating."

She turned around and saw Jimmy standing behind her, holding a bouquet of crisp white Goldband lilies.

"I'll have to remember to wear it to my next karate competition then." He smiled nervously. "What are you doing here?"

"Making things right."

"Wha-?"

"Right-that probably doesn't make much sense out of context….never mind."

_What the heck…_

"So hey! You won."

"Yeah, Libby gets most, no, all the credit for this one. I just kind of…walked across the stage."

"No," he looked at her seriously, "you did much more than that." He glanced down at the flowers in his hands. "Oh, um…these are for you." She took them gently. "I just figured… roses were too cliché and, hey, _Lilium auratum goes _well with your dress….that was a lucky coincidence….I'm rambling, aren't I?"

"Kind of. But thank you, they're really nice." She looked at his face. "And thanks for coming tonight even though things were…kinda getting weird. " He didn't make eyes contact with her. "But it's ok, I mean, they're getting back to normal…right?"

He looked up. "You were right."

"Pardon?"

"You are smarter than me. I am a total idiot for not… seeing things as they are. Or even just for wanting them to stay like this."

"What do you mean?"

"We both know what I mean, Cindy."

They just stood there looking at each other, an unsaid understanding passing between them.

"I suppose this is the part where a pig flies by…" she muttered softly.

"But..uh…so, on a different note: what _does_ one do with a dress like this after a pageant?" he tone changed to joking.

She looked down at it. "I don't know…retire it to my closet? Give it to a drifter? Bury it?" she chuckled.

"I think Libby would kill you if you did that. Besides, it would hurt its _feelings_." He gave her a coy smile.

"Oh yes, I'd hate to have twenty yards of taffeta upset me." She wasn't sure where he was going with this.

"No, I think a dress like this would want to be worn again."

"Feel free to borrow it **whenever** you want."

"No, not me," He didn't mimic her sarcastic tone, "it much prefers you." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small white envelope and handed it to her.

"What's this…"

"Just open it." She did. Out slid two metallic rectangles of cardstock with fancy script on them. They almost looked like…

_He_ **didn't.**

"Are these….prom tickets?"

"Maybe."

"Is this your crazy way of asking me to go with you?"

"Maybe."

She stuck them back in the envelope. "Well, that was certainly an unsatisfactory way of asking. It totally went against social protocol."

His jaw dropped. "Seriously? I thought all you girls bought into that romantic nonsense."

She crossed her arms. "I am insulted that you would even **consider** lumping me in a category with those fools. Now, if you wish to ask me, you may do it properly."

He heaved a sigh and muttered "_I must be out of my mind_." He extricated her hand and grasped it, dramatically placing his other one on his chest. "My dearest Cynthia," he said in a deep melodramatic voice, "it would give me the greatest pleasure if you accompanied me to the, so called, "Evening of Enchantment" that our school will be hosting. There we can drink tepid punch and take part in insipid conversations with our peers as we strain to hear each other over the volume of the DJ's base."

She rolled her eyes in a theatrical fashion. "I suppose that would please me."

He let go of her hand. "So is that a yes?"

She chuckled and set her flowers down on the chair next to her. "Is Avogadro's number 6.02 times 10 to the 23rd?"

"Well actually, a more accurate approximation would be 6.022145-"

"Jimmy?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up." And with that she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

He met her embrace with absolutely no hesitation.

They were in the poorly-lit lobby of the mediocre school auditorium with dozens of people walking around them and they couldn't care less.

For them it was a perfect moment.

_Truly perfect._

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><p><strong>You know what would be the trollest thing ever? If I waited like a week to post the final chapter;)<strong>

**Review proszę bardzo!**


	17. Epilogue: the Following Monday

**Huzzah, completion! (Y'all didn't really think I'd make you wait a week, did you?)**

**I feel like a parent watching their child go off to college: Proud and somewhat sad**:'(****

**Please enjoy even knowing the sad truth that I don't own Jimmy Neutron**

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><p>"There she, Miss Junior Retroville High. Man, that is a mouthful."<p>

Cindy stepped out of Jimmy's car, only to find the rest of their friends convening in the parking lot.

Sheen gave them both a sly smile. "Well, well, well; look what the cat dragged in."

"What cat? Sheen, you know I'm allergic!"

"CARL, it's an expression!"

She shook her head in disbelief. _Some things never change._

"Girl, where is your tiara?" Libby stood with both hands on her hips.

"I am not wearing that thing to school."

"But it's a tradition!"

"A stupid tradition!"

"Don't worry, Libby." Jimmy opened the trunk. "I thought she'd be this stubborn. He pulled out the fake-jewel encrusted semi-circle.

"Uh, where did you get that from?"

"Humphrey is not as good a guard dog as you might think." He placed it on her head.

"Wait, did you break into my-"

"Thank you Jimmy! Cin, it's bad enough you wore _sneakers_ today, the least you can do humor me by keeping the dang crown on."

She sighed. "Whatever."

"Good." Libby smiled, then a sneaky expression came over her face. "So… I assume things will be much quieter around here now."

"Why…"

"Well, I just figured since you two are going out that you'd-"

"Whoa now, hold on." Jimmy interrupted. "We are **not** 'going out', we're just… dating."

"There's a difference?"

"There's a **big **difference!" Cindy added.

"Sure there is. Anyway, since you are…whatever you two are, I figured you'd fight less."

Jimmy and Cindy exchanged glances. "Why would we do that?"

"Uh, it's kinda what people who are…'dating' do. You know: be nice to each other? Engage in normal conversations?"

Jimmy smiled at her. "I don't know Cindy, do you want to engage in 'normal conversations?'"

"That sounds incredibly boring. How would we go about doing that when our whole relationship is based on a friendly rivalry?"

"My thoughts exactly."

Libby threw her hands up in frustration. "Whatever, you two are impossible. I'm done intervening in your…whatever you want to call it." She walked towards the school and Sheen and Carl turned to follow her.

Cindy leaned over to him. "Do you believe she's really done medaling?"

"About as much as I believe that Kepler 22-b could support life."

"Yeah," she chuckled. "Wait, what? Of course it could support life; it's the most Earth-like planet known."

"That doesn't mean anything. It has a methane-based atmosphere. It would be totally hostile."

"So? Just because humans couldn't live there doesn't mean there's not some race of beings that could convert methane to survive!"

Instead of responding, he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close to him.

"Don't think you can win this argument by distracting me with displays of affection, Neutron. I'm not that kind of girl. You'll have to best me the old fashioned way."

He laughed.

"Why on earth would be ever want to stop arguing? It's what gets me through the day."

"You're weird."

"Of course, I could think of a few other things we could do to kill time." Then he kissed her. "At least until I have to study for the chem test."

She smiled up at him. "You're such a dork."

"But I'm _your_ dork."

"That might just be the cheesiest thing you've ever said."

"Realized that the moment I said it." Then he kissed her again.

_Oh well, I could use a little dorkiness in my life._

* * *

><p><strong>AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I would like to say thank you to all my loyal readers who stuck with it and wrote all the kind reviews that made me dance around my room until my dad came in and did his whole 'disbelieving head shake' thing he does. I really appreciate all the love and support that you have given me and the story.<strong>

__**But you know, there's just so much going on in the little world that I've created. What with Elke coming for the prom, Jimmy and Cindy 'not going out', and everything, it just doesn't seem like there's closure.**

** Sooooooooooo... do I smell a sequel?**

**Most likely! It might take a little while coming out (if it's not done before April, it will have to wait until Script Frenzy is done) But yes, I will continue this. Huzzah!**

**Review ei poftim!**


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